What If
by Lauren Williams
Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her
1. Chapter 1

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: This was actually not anything that I had planned to write. I had a couple of reviewers who requested a "what if…" story and well, I liked the idea so here it is. I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Stef awoke the night after her wedding suddenly. She was nestled within Lena's arms and content and yet something was wrong. She felt something in her chest begging her to get up and check on her children. Carefully she untangled herself from her wife and slipped out of bed. She threw on a robe and went to check on Brandon first. His door was slightly ajar and she could see him sleeping peacefully. Walking quietly across the hall she peered into the boy's room, both were in their beds sleeping, Jesus snoring softly. Feeling as though she got up for nothing she moved to check the girl's room. She noticed Mariana sleeping in a rather unflattering position and then turned to see if Callie was alright. Her heart sunk when she noticed an empty, made, bed.

Quickly she flew down the stairs, hoping that Callie was in the kitchen getting a drink or couldn't sleep or something. Her mind was racing in panic, she was trying to think of some reason that Callie would be out of her bed at, she glanced at her watch, 3:47 in the morning.

She was in such a frenzy she almost tripped on a bag that was left at the bottom of the stairs. Studying the bag a little more closely, she recognized it to be the one that Callie had brought with her when she came to live with them. The blue duffle was one of two bags the girl had that contained all her worldly possessions.

Stef's heart began to race, why was Callie's bag at the bottom of the stairs? And more importantly, where was Callie?

Frantically running into the kitchen she was met with silence, she turned to enter the living room and stopped short at the sight of Callie sitting on one of the couches completely still. At first glance she looked like she might have been sleeping but as Stef got closer she could see Callie's body rocking ever so slightly and her eyes wide and filled with sorrow.

"Sweets, what are you doing down here?" she said, approaching carefully. Callie looked like a frightened rabbit and Stef didn't want her to bolt.

Callie didn't respond, she was lost in her own thoughts. She had gotten up an hour ago, packed her bags, silently said goodbye to everyone as they slept, and prepared to leave the Foster home forever. She had gotten to the bottom of the stairs and found that she couldn't take another step. She had dropped her bags and shakily made her way to the couch, panicked because of her body's lack of response to her wishes.

She couldn't rationalize it. She had prepared herself to leave. And yet, she couldn't take one step outside of the door. She couldn't leave the only place she had felt safe in the past six years. And so she sat on the couch without moving, unable to get her body to respond the way she willed it to.

"Callie," Stef tried once more, worried by her lack of response. She reached out and grabbed Callie's arm loosely, planning on turning her towards Stef so that she could look at her face while she was talking to her.

Her reaction was instantaneous. Callie went from prone and emotionless to startled and afraid. Her eyes were wide with fear as she searched for something; eventually falling on Stef's concerned face which led to her immediately relaxing.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was supposed to be gone," she whispered, trying to make Stef understand what she was thinking, what she was planning on doing.

"What are you saying Callie? Were you… were you going to run away?" Stef asked, astonished. She thought that Callie had been happy here, she had agreed to become a part of their family only yesterday, and now she was talking about being gone?

"I ruin everything," she whispered, willing Stef to just agree and let her go, help her go.

"Oh no love, you don't ruin everything. Why would you say that?" Stef asked, her heart breaking for Callie. She could hear how much Callie believed what she was saying was true.

Callie just looked at her, unable to find the words to answer. Stef could see this and instead of pushing for answers tonight, she just carefully pulled Callie into her arms.

"It's okay now Callie, I've got you," she whispered, rubbing Callie's back and trying to reassure the fragile girl. They stayed like that until Callie finally reacted and reached her arms up to grasp Stef as tightly as she had been holding her.

"I'm sorry," She said repeatedly, like a mantra.

"It's going to be okay Callie, we are going to get through this, whatever this is," Stef said, pulling her back at arm's length so that she could focus on determining Callie's mental state.

"Okay," Callie said, nodding her head and bringing one hand up to wipe her tears away.

"Are you alright to go back to bed?" Stef asked, she would have preferred to bring Callie back to her and Lena's bed but Lena wasn't exactly dressed for visitors and she didn't want to leave Callie alone for one minute. She hoped that Callie would be in a better state of mind after she slept and that they would be able to discuss this rationally but at the moment she was a flight risk and therefore was not to be left alone.

"Uh…" Callie trailed off, not wanting to be alone with her thoughts in her bed at the moment. She had convinced herself that she wasn't going back to that bed and she wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep there tonight.

"That's okay Sweets; we can sleep down here tonight. Put on a movie and just relax together," Stef reasoned.

Callie nodded to show that she was agreeable with that option. Together they rose and moved to the den. There Callie sat on the couch and Stef threw on the Lion King, it had always worked when she needed to put the twins or Brandon to sleep after a nightmare and she hoped it would work for Callie too.

Making her way back to the couch she settled herself down at one end with a blanket. She could see how uncomfortable Callie seemed and she patted the spot next to her as an invitation. Callie looked reluctant at first but then gave in to temptation and scooted over to where Stef was and nestled into her side, bringing her own blanket up and snuggling into Stef as the movie played.

Both were asleep before the end of the opening song.

* * *

Lena woke when the sun started streaming through the window. She reached, instinctively, for Stef and was surprised to find her side of the bed empty. Groping her wife's pillow Lena was concerned when it was stone cold, which meant Stef had left their bed a while ago.

Lena rose and stretched before throwing on some sleeping clothes. She went in search of her wife. As she descended the stairs she immediately became concerned when she saw Callie's blue duffle bag and backpack at the bottom. Was Callie leaving them? She suddenly wished she had checked on all the kids before coming down the stairs but decided to check the first floor first. Walking into the family room she smiled at the sight that greeted her: Stef and Callie were wrapped around each other on the couch and the DVD menu for the Lion King was playing over and over again.

Lena bit her bottom lip as she contemplated whether or not to wake them up. She knew, if they had been watching the Lion King to fall asleep, that something bad had happened because that was the Foster family's go-to "feel good" movie.

She decided to start the coffee and let the aroma wake the two up, knowing how they were both coffee addicts.

As she busied herself around the kitchen she couldn't help the smile on her face. Yesterday had been such a perfect day in her opinion. Not only had she married the woman of her dreams, they had also made the decision to adopt two children who deserved a home more than anyone. She finally felt as though their family was complete.

Just as she had predicted, the smell of fresh coffee had woken Stef and she came walking into the kitchen, re-wrapping her robe which had gotten messed up during her sleep on the couch.

"Morning love," she said, kissing Lena before making her way over to the coffee mugs.

"Good morning," Lena replied. "Though, I guess I should be asking how good of a morning it is because I saw the Lion King DVD has been used."

"As long as all of our children are in the house this morning, I'll consider it a win," Stef replied, leaning back against the counter and enjoying the feel of caffeine entering her system.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Lena asked, automatically concerned at the tone of Stef's voice.

"Callie… she was going to leave last night. And by leave I mean she packed her bags and was going to disappear into the night," Stef said, sounding exhausted as she got through what happened the night before.

"Did she say why?" Lena asked, distressed at how scary it would have been to wake up in the morning to find Callie gone. She couldn't even begin to imagine what that would have done to Jude; he would have been completely devastated.

"She kept saying how sorry she was and how she ruins everything. I don't know where it came from though. She seemed so happy yesterday. Could it have all been a front?" Stef wondered both to herself and out loud.

"I guess there is a lot about Callie we still don't know. She carries burdens that you and I can't even imagine. I'm just so thankful that you were able to stop her. We can worry about the why later, at least she is safe with us still and not god knows where on the street."

"I didn't exactly stop her. When I came down the stairs her bag was there and she was in some kind of panicked state on the couch. I think she wanted to leave but couldn't muster up enough of anything to actually do so," Stef said, even more concerned about Callie's mental state when she really thought about the events of last night.

"I think we should wake her and talk to her before everyone gets up," Lena said, wanting to get this out of the way early. She wouldn't be able to get through the day if she had to wonder about whether Callie was going to bolt at any time.

"No need, I'm up," Callie said softly from the entryway of the kitchen. She had woken when Stef had gotten up but she wasn't sure she was ready to face the two women just yet. She had tried to run away last night; even if they wanted to adopt her yesterday there was no way they would still want to today. She just wanted to relish in the feeling of their home for a little longer before they called Bill. She also hoped that she would be able to convince them to keep Jude when they sent her away, none of this was his fault and she had promised him she wouldn't be selfish anymore and she screwed everything up again. Jude was so right, she was selfish, she couldn't even run away right.

"Callie, sweetie, come and sit with us please," Stef said, moving out a bar stool for her to sit on. Lena came up on the other side of her so that she was sandwiched between the two.

"So… Stef tells me that you wanted to leave last night? Was it something we did yesterday?" Lena asked, getting right down to the nitty-gritty.

"No, you guys are great," Callie said quickly. She didn't want them to think any of this was their fault; she just didn't deserve a home.

"Then why Callie, you have to help us understand why. Why would you try to run away in the middle of the night?" Stef asked.

"You were going to have to send me away anyway," Callie said. "I just … um, well I hoped that you would… you know, keep Jude. And I thought… if I wasn't in the picture… that you might do it. He's a good kid!"

"Of course he is. And so are you. Why do you think we would send you away?" Stef asked, laying a hand on Callie's shoulder to comfort her.

"I…uh…I've got problems, you know… like the reason you send me to a shrink…" Callie said, staling and trying to get something out. She had been all ready to tell them about what had happened between her and Brandon at the wedding but Jude's words kept echoing in her head: _We're a package deal, they are not going to separate us._

"Callie, you do not have problems. You have had a rough life and sometimes it's a little more than you can handle on your own. We are here to support you but Dr. Kimura knows how to help you in ways that we don't. She said that you have been making progress, did something happen last session?" Lena asked. She made sure to keep in touch with Callie's personal therapist, last time she had spoken to her she had been informed that Callie was becoming more comfortable opening up and that she was beginning to truly come to terms with what happened to her. What had changed?

"No…" Callie said pathetically. She didn't know what to say, therapy was going fine she guessed, she just panicked and needed to say something.

"If you want we can get you a different therapist," Stef offered.

"No, she's fine," Callie said, her voice kind of dead. She felt completely drained already, even though it was barely 7am.

"Callie…" Lena began, taking her hands and turning so that they were facing each other, "Callie, do you not want us to adopt you?" It was the question that had been burning to come out as soon as Stef had told her that Callie had planned to run away.

"It's not that. You guys are great…better than I deserve," she answered.

"Callie, you are an amazing young woman, and you deserve the best family and life possible. You know this right?" Stef asked, amazed by the self-loathing that she was getting from Callie. She dealt with this too often in her line of work, victims didn't believe that they deserved anything good in their life because there was something that had done in the past that made them think they were unworthy of love.

Callie didn't answer because she couldn't She didn't deserve the best in life, she was selfish and she had gone and kissed Brandon even though she knew that it would get her and Jude removed from the house.

"Okay, this is something we are going to talk about with Dr. Kimura. But for now, Callie, we need you to promise us that you won't try to run away again. Promise that, if you feel overwhelmed and like you need to get out of here, that you will come and find one of us first and talk to us. Don't bottle things up until you feel like the only option is to run away," Lena said, she waited until Callie nodded before leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"Alright, we're tabling this discussion for now and instead let's talk breakfast," Stef said, wanting to change the mood of the kitchen before the rest of the family woke up.

"Callie? As a soon to be new member of this family, what would you like?" Lena asked, letting Callie know subtly that they still wanted to adopt her, baggage and all.

"French toast?" She asked.

"Sure thing, grab the bread out of the bread draw please," Stef said, moving to the refrigerator to get the rest of the ingredients. Together the three of them began to work in tandem to get breakfast on the table.

* * *

When Jude woke up that morning he felt terrible for two reasons: first was that he felt hot and his stomach hurt, the second reason was because he remembered how he spoke to his sister the day before. He had said such terrible things to her, things that weren't even true. She had put him first ever since their mom died and he threw that all back in her face.

Turning onto his side he let out a low groan. His stomach felt like it was gurgling.

Jesus woke up to that sound. Looking around for the source his eyes eventually felt on Jude's curled up figure.

"Hey Buddy, you alright?" he asked, getting out of bed and making his way over to where Jude was lying in the fetal position.

"I don't feel so good," he mumbled back, his voice sounding strange in his ears.

Jesus could see that Jude was turning a little green and he had just enough time to grab the garbage pail near his desk for Jude to throw up in. The mess of cake and punch was not a pretty sight but Jesus made sure to hold the basket and rub Jude's back as he threw it all up. As soon as he seemed like he was finished, Jesus helped him lay back down on the bed.

"I'm going to get our moms," he said, trying to reassure Jude that someone would be there soon to take care of him.

"NO…I want Callie," Jude moaned miserably. Callie had always taken care of him; she was the one that he wanted right now.

"Alright, I'll get Callie then, just hold on and if you feel like you are going to be sick again, the basket is right next to your bed okay?" Jesus asked, he waited until Jude nodded before rushing out of his room and to the girl's room.

He knocked once as a warning before opening the door. He could see Mariana sitting up in bed looking dazed and sleepy; clearly he had just woken her up. When he looked at Callie's bed it was made and her bags, which were always right next to her bed, were missing.

"Mariana, where is Callie?" Jesus asked, slightly panicked by the lack of Callie's belongings in the room.

"Huh? I don't know, maybe downstairs?" Mariana replied, still not awake enough to process what was going on. She turned back over in her bed and pulled the covers over her head, she wasn't in the mood to deal with Jesus' shenanigans this early in the morning.

Jesus tried to calm his growing panic. Ever since the whole Liam debacle he felt extremely protective of both Mariana and Callie. He had nightmares of Liam coming back and getting Callie but this time he wasn't able to save her. To see her bed empty and her stuff gone made him feel like his nightmare was becoming a reality.

He quickly made his way downstairs, skipped steps and jumping the last four entirely. He was so worked up he missed the fact that Callie's bags were still huddled by the door, had he seen those he might have lost it.

"Callie?" He said, louder than necessary, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

"We're in here Jesus," he heard his mama say from the kitchen. He raced into there, immediately feeling the tension leave his body when he saw Callie at the butcher block, chopping fresh strawberries while his moms made French toast.

Callie looked up at him expectedly and he almost forgot why he came down there in the first place. "Hmmm?" she prompted him.

"Oh, Jude needs you…" as soon as those three words left his mouth whole demeanor changed and she went from being wary and somewhat sad to being very focused. "…he's sick."

Callie went into mom mode immediately. She dropped the knife and abandoned her cutting. She moved swiftly to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade and then she was out of the kitchen and up the stairs before anyone else could get a word in to stop her.

"Why are Callie's bags in front of the door?" Jesus said, noticing for the first time and causing the moms to stop what they were doing and freeze, unsure of how to answer their son's question.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Alright, so that's the first chapter of _What if…_

I see this story being somewhat of a fun and free story because there is literally no limit to what I can do with it. There is no precedent set from the show so I can completely make up my own storylines here.

One thing I will say is that this story will focus on Callie letting go of that "mom" role that she has had the past six years. Both she and Jude are going to have a hard time learning to lean on the moms instead of each other. Also I will attempt to tackle the Brandon/Callie issue eventually, which is going to be difficult because I am still, constantly, looking for something concrete to show that their relationship would be illegal and if there would be a way around it. I have an idea of how I am going to do it but we shall see. I am also going to be putting in some research time on Californian adoptions so see how that would all work. So if anyone has any research to share, leave it in a review or PM it to me please!

More to come!


	2. Chapter 2

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed my newest story. No matter how long I've been writing, and how much I've evolved as a writer, I am always blown away by everyone's kind words. I mean, who doesn't love to wake up to 50 new emails about notifications and reviews for their story! If you are interested…I have a fun idea at the end of this chapter. Check it out!

A reviewer had stated that I didn't warn them that my stories all followed a different Liam storyline. I do my best to make it easy to see, but in case you missed it in the first chapter:

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Callie walked into the boy's room, unsure of what state she would find Jude in. He had always been somewhat of a frail child as he was growing up. If there was ever a bug at school, Jude was the first one to catch it. It didn't matter how many times he wore all his winter wear outside, the first time he didn't he got walking pneumonia. Because of this, Callie always took every illness of Jude's as serious, even if it was only a common cold.

"Hey baby, how are you feeling?" she asked, kneeling by his bed and immediately feeling his forehead. She knew right away that he had a fever and he looked miserable in the bed. She also smelled the tell tale scent of throw up and noticed the pale near his bed.

"Not good," he mumbled, glad that Callie was there. Her hand on his forehead both comforted him and gave him some relief from the heat he was currently feeling.

"I know Jude, I know," Callie said sympathetically. She could tell that this was more than the common cold; she feared that he had the flu. That was always tough on Jude and she hated to see him suffer. "Can you tell me what hurts?"

"I'm sorry," Jude said instead. Even though he was hurting and didn't feel good, he still felt touched that Callie was here taking care of him after he was so mean to her last night.

"I can't be mad at you baby. Don't worry about it. Please tell me what hurts," she said. She didn't think that he meant it but either way, what she said was true, she couldn't stay mad at him no matter what he did or said.

"My head, my stomach, and my throat," he rasped out. She saw him shiver as he said that and she became even more worried. She knew he had a fever and now he had chills as well.

"Alright, well you just work on feeling better. I brought some Gatorade for you, do you think you could try and drink some of that. We don't want you to become dehydrated right?" Callie said softly, brushing Jude's sweaty forehead.

She thought back to one other time that Jude had been really sick with the flu, her foster family had forced her to go to school and Jude was basically left alone all day, he had become to dehydrated during that time that she almost had to take him to the hospital when she got home from school that day. She purposefully got them out of that house as soon as possible. She hadn't cared that what she had to do added to her long record in her foster care file, she just needed to try and find a place where she and Jude would be safe and cared for.

She helped him sit up slightly and held the bottle to his lips as he took a few short sips.

"That's good baby. Now you get some rest okay?" she said, helping him settle back into the blankets and settling him in. She kissed his sweaty forehead and he drifted back off to sleep.

Callie sat back and sighed, she knew it would be a long time before he would be feeling better. She was eternally grateful that something had kept her from leaving last night; she didn't know what Jude would have done without her. Stealing one more glance at Jude, she picked up the garbage pail he had thrown up in earlier and brought it into the bathroom to clean it.

While she was rinsing it out Brandon walked in, still half asleep and not realizing someone else was in the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize…wait is that throw up? Are you sick?" he asked, immediately snapping awake.

"No, Jude is," Callie said, trying to finish her task quickly so that she could get out of the confined space with Brandon. She knew what happened last night could never happen again and she didn't want to tempt herself.

"Oh… is there anything I can do to help?" Brandon asked, he could tell Callie was uncomfortable in his presence and he had a feeling it had something to do with the kisses they shared the night before. It wasn't something he planned but it also wasn't something he pushed on her. He didn't feel bad that it happened, just that she felt bad that it happened. But it wasn't like he had forced her. She had been an active participant too, and she had enjoyed it.

"No, I got it," Callie said, finished her cleaning and leaving the room without saying another word.

When she re-entered the room she noticed Lena had joined Jude and was sitting on the edge of the bed, about to run her hand through his hair to check his fever.

"Please don't, he just got to sleep," Callie said, harsher than she intended to.

Lena pulled back her hand as if she had been burned, Callie sounded like she was scolding her, like she used to scold Brandon when he was poking at the twins when they first came to live with them and wouldn't play with him.

"I'm sorry," Callie said quickly, trying to apologize. She realized how rude she had sounded just them. "I've got it; you don't have to worry about anything. I'll take care of Jude," Callie assured her, thinking that Lena was going to worry about taking over Jude's care.

"You don't have to do that, I certainly appreciate it, but you don't have to solely take care of his wellbeing on your own. Stef and I are here to help," Lena said, trying to approach the topic carefully. She could tell that Callie felt a need to care for Jude; it was something that was deeply engrained within her.

"It's fine, I don't mind," Callie said, coming over to the side of Jude's bed and kneeling next to it.

"I know you don't Sweetie, I know you love Jude. But you are his sister and Stef and I are the parents, we want to take care of you two. You don't have to take this on all by yourself anymore," she rationalized with Callie. She could tell there was an internal struggle going on within her, this was the role she was used to, this had been her purpose in life for the past six years and she couldn't get over it.

"I'm fine right here," Callie said, sounding final.

"Alright, but if you need something, or Jude needs something, please call for me or Stef. Okay?" Lena asked, knowing that she had to leave this issue alone for now. It was something that they could tackle at a therapy session, but it wasn't the time or place to deal with it at the moment.

She slipped out of the room back downstairs to where her other children were gathered around the breakfast table having French toast.

"Where are Callie and Jude?" Mariana asked, noticing the missing Jacobs' siblings.

"Jude's sick and Callie is up there with him," Lena explained.

"Does she want one of us to sit with him while she eats?" Stef asked, confusing clearly showing through her voice.

"I think she just wants to be with him for a little bit, I'll bring up some food for her later. Also, do you think you could get that chicken carcass out of the freezer, I think Jude is going to need some of my homemade chicken soup," Lena said.

"Wow, he must be pretty sick if mama's breaking out the chicken carcass!" Stef said, making the children laugh. They all hated the look of the chicken carcass as it was cooking but all loved the taste and 'healing powers' of Lena's chicken soup.

"Oh hush you," Lena said, smiling.

"So, now that you're married, I guess the next big question is…when's the honeymoon?" Mariana asked with a Cheshire cat smile.

"Um, well I don't think right now is the right time for a honeymoon, maybe this summer. I am getting back to work next week and your mama will have to be back in school tomorrow, she has used up a lot of her vacation time in the past month. Even more than that, we just want to get Callie and Jude all settled in before anything else," Stef said, thinking back to the scare she had that morning. There was no way that she was going to leave with Callie in the fragile mental state that she was in.

"That and Callie's a flight risk," Jesus said, earning him a whack on the back of the head from Stef. "Hey!" Apparently he hadn't gotten the hint that they wanted to keep Callie's attempt at running away a secret when they moms had asked him to move her bags to the closet as to not scare any of his siblings.

"There are some things you just don't bring up at the breakfast table! Or ever at all!" Stef scolded him.

"What does he mean, flight risk?" Brandon asked, trying to get his moms back on the subject at hand. Had Callie tried to run away?

"You have to understand, transitioning from being a foster child to being a permanent member of a home is difficult for people sometimes. Some children go through a period where they don't think they really belong, where they don't think they deserve to live there," Lena tried to explain.

"How could she think that, if anyone deserves a good home, its Callie and Jude," Mariana said, confused. She couldn't comprehend it, when the Fosters' had asked her and Jesus to becoming permanent members of their family they had jumped at the opportunity, she couldn't imagine someone not doing the same.

"We know, and you guys know that, but unfortunately Callie has been in some really bad foster homes and they have both been through some difficult times. It's probably hard for her to see the light at the end of the tunnel," Stef explained.

"How can we help?" Brandon asked.

"Just treat her like you normally do, include her in all the family events, and keep an eye on her and come find us if she seems … I don't know… off or upset," Lena said, not wanting to let on that she was really worried about Callie.

"Alright, moving away from that topic for now. Today is the last day we are letting you guys stay home from school, your attendance has been all over the place since the shooting and we are both worried that your grades are slipping. Tomorrow everyone goes back to school! And now, since it is your last day of freedom for a while, how is everyone planning on spending their day?"

And with that change of topic, the Foster family all started talking at the same time; it was just like any other normal family breakfast.

* * *

When the sun peaked through the windows on Tuesday morning the only one awake was Callie. She had been in and out of sleep all night at her perch on the end of Jude's bed. He had slept through most of the night, only waking up once to throw up, but she was always an uneasy sleeper when he was sick.

Callie had been sitting by his side since the morning before and even though both Stef and Lena had offered to relieve her, she just couldn't leave him. She was worried they were going to expect her to go to school today. She didn't see that happening because that would mean leaving Jude and there was no way she was going to do that.

There was a soft knock on the door that startled her.

"Come in," She called quietly, wondering who was knocking. It could have been any member of the house, even Jesus, who had vacated his room while Jude was sick and opting to sleep on the couch in the living room.

Stef walked into the room and was met with a concerning sight. Callie looked exhausted and barely awake at the end of Jude's bed where he was sleeping soundly.

"Hey Sweetie, I thought I'd give you the option of the bathroom first, before Mariana gets in there," Stef said, hating the fact that they were going to force her to school even though she clearly spent her whole night taking care of her brother. She and Lena had discussed it before going to bed the night before, they had to get Callie to step away from Jude and continue living her life. Stef was going to be home anyway, seeing as how she was still out on medical leave, and they needed to make Callie see that Jude was safe and cared for with them.

They had also discussed it briefly on the phone with Dr. Kimura. She agreed with them and thought that Callie should be made to go to school. They knew Callie wasn't going to begin to truly trust them on her own; they would have to prove themselves worthy. They would never have the opportunity though, unless they got Callie to leave her post at Jude's sickbed.

"Um…I can't…" Callie looked over to Jude. "I'm staying with him…" She tried to reason. She could see the determination in Stef's eyes but she felt just as determined to not leave him.

"Callie…" Stef sighed. "I know how much you want to be here for Jude, how much you feel the need to take care of him. But…well I'm going to be home all day anyway and Lena left plenty of soup in the fridge, you don't have to worry about Jude. I will take care of him," Stef rationalized. "I promise you, everything will be alright while you are at school with Brandon, Mariana, and Jesus."

Callie looked torn and frightened. Caring for Jude, that was normal for her; that was what she was used to. She didn't like this sudden forced change.

"I need you to trust me," Stef said.

There was a long pause, where Callie was trying to will herself off the bed to prove that she did trust Stef and even though it took a few minutes, eventually she did stand.

"You'll call me if he needs me?" she asked, not moving away from the bed, looking at her brother with worry in her eyes.

"Of course, now get into the shower quick. I hear stirring from the other room," Stef said, moving over to give her a gentle push. She seemed reluctant, but eventually Callie was out the door and into the bathroom.

Stef let out a relieved sigh. "You have one stubborn sister buddy," she said it the sleeping boy. "But boy does she love you."

* * *

Lena hoped they were doing the right thing as she herded the kids out of the front door and towards her van. Callie looked like a zombie, an extremely worried zombie and for the third or fourth time that morning she wondered if they were doing the right thing by her. Sucking in a deep breath, Lena steeled her features and show Callie as reassuring smile to get her to finish her reluctant march out to the car.

Catching Brandon's arm before he left the house she pulled him back and out of earshot of the other children.

"Hey B, do me a favor okay? Keep an eye on Callie today, and maybe ask Talya if she could do the same? She's had a rough couple of days and I think this transition is hitting her hard. She's also really worried about Jude," Lena said, kind of getting off topic as she saw Callie look out the window anxiously.

"Why is she so worried about Jude, mom's got him," Brandon asked. He had been a little disconnected from Callie since the wedding and their interaction in the bathroom the other morning had only proved how uneasy she felt around him all of a sudden. She seemed to be avoiding him and he was trying to honor her wishes.

"You have to remember that it's been her and Jude against the world for the past six years. She isn't used to putting her trust in anyone else. Just try to keep her mind off it… for me, okay?" she asked, unable to really rationalize Callie's feelings to herself, let alone her son.

"Sure thing," he agreed. He was immediately wary of what he just agreed to. He didn't know how Callie would take to him trying to keep her company, or Talya for that matter. Especially since he had just gotten back together with Talya a few days ago and then at the wedding he was found making out with his foster sister.

All of a sudden, he was not looking forward to the day or the enivateble talk he was going to have to have with both Talya and Callie.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

So…here is the second chapter. I think these two really set a good base for wherever the story goes.

What I'm asking is this, seeing as how this is basically a reviewers request in its conception, and not a plot bunny of my own, I would really like to hear from you guys about where you want the story to go. What kind of interactions do you want to see? What plot bunny of your own do you want to see come to life…ish? I think this could be a really fun and interactive series.

Here's the rules (but not really rules):

1. I obviously get final say on what goes into the story. I'm sure everyone has great ideas on where they want the story to go but I will need to rein it in sometimes to make it cohesive. I will do my best to try and get as many ideas as possible into the story though, even if I have to tweak them a little.

2. If there are multiple conflicting storylines, I will post a poll or something at the end of a chapter to see which idea is most popular before I write it into the story. Sometimes you're in love with an idea until you read someone else's so I think that would be a fair way to decide between two different conflicting ideas.

3. This is going to slow down the update rate. Because I can't write too much in advance and I have to sort through reviews before figuring out what will come first, I'm expecting updates like two or three times a week. Still a good rate but not my usual every day or so.

If this sounds like a fun idea, let me know by submitting ideas and stuff. Can't wait to work with everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: It seems like everyone has a little something they want to see in the story but not specific big plots. That's fine; I'll keep the creative juices flowing and try to incorporate the family interactions that people want to see within the story. I have a couple of ideas at the end of the chapter if you guys want to give them a look and decide whether or not you want to see them come to fruition in this story. And as always, enjoy!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

As Brandon got the books for his morning class out of his locker, he tried to come up with something to say to Talya about why he was going to have to end their re-budding relationship. Even though he really enjoyed spending time with her, he didn't have the same kind of feelings for Talya that he did for Callie. And he knew it really wasn't fair to Talya to drag her along.

"Hey stranger," came a voice to the right of him. He was a little surprised to see Talya hanging off the side of his locker. She usually hung out with friends before school and only met up with him right before first period. "I didn't hear from you at all yesterday, everything alright?" She asked.

"Um…yeah. We just spent the day as a family, you know, settling in after the wedding and all," Brandon lied. He didn't want to tell her that he spent the day locked in his room, barely doing anything, in an attempt to give Callie the space she was clearly asking for.

"Oh, that's cool I guess," She said, linking her arm with his as they walked through the hallway.

"So, not that I mind or anything, but why aren't you with the girls…you know, gossiping?" Brandon asked, feeling a little uncomfortable at how clingy Talya seemed all of a sudden. If Brandon really thought about it, Talya had been like this since they had gotten back together, but he had been very distracted with his mom in the hospital and then all the wedding preparations.

"Oh… well I don't really talk to Meghan and Laura anymore," Talya said, uncomfortable with the topic. She hadn't really spoken to them since the video of her topless had been leaked on the internet. Whereas she had considered herself pretty popular before that incident, she didn't seem to have too many people in her corner anymore these days.

"Oh," Brandon said, slightly distracted. He wasn't sure how he was going to break up with Talya…again. "Uh…before I forget. Lena had a favor to ask of us," Brandon said, sticking to a topic that was safe.

"Oh?" Talya asked, surprised. As much as Brandon's parents had loved her before, they were a little colder to her after she had Brandon had broken up. Although she knew that Brandon didn't tell his moms why they ended their relationship, she was sure that anyone who broke their son's heart would be out of the family circle for a while.

"Yeah. She asked if we could kind of keep an eye on Callie, involve her and stuff. It's just that Jude is home sick and she's really worried about him. So she was hoping that you and I could keep her mind off of things," Brandon said, not wanting to give away anything that he shouldn't, like the fact that Callie tried to run away the other night.

"Of course," Talya readily agreed. Although she had felt threatened by Callie's presence in the Foster's home before, she had warmed up to the girl pretty quickly after she was the only one besides Brandon who stuck up for her when some boys showed her 'video' to the class.

Brandon was a little surprised at how quickly Talya had agreed to help Callie out but he was glad. He hadn't been able to stand it when she was so insecure and obsessed with his relationship with Callie.

Deciding to pocket the other conversation he needed to have with Talya for the moment, the two made their way to first period together.

* * *

Meanwhile, Callie was very distracted in her first period class. She sat in her desk and tried to pay attention but her knee was bouncing constantly and she kept looked at the clock, willing it to go faster. All she wanted was for this school day to end so she could get back to Jude. She kept having these flashes of how it was in the other foster home, how she had gotten back to the house to find Jude extremely pale, lying in bed confused and unaware of his surroundings. She had promised him that he would never have to go through that again, and that was a promise she was determined to keep.

She looked back up at the clock and noticed that only five minutes of the period had passed. That clock had to be wrong.

Mrs. Smathy, her math teacher, had noticed her inattentiveness and knelt next to her desk to see what was wrong.

"Callie, is something bothering you?" she whispered as to not draw the attention of the rest of the class who were working on the do now.

"I'm fine Mrs. Smathy. Sorry, I'll get to work," Callie said. She didn't want to draw her teacher's attention any more so she set to work on the do now, maybe time would move faster if she wasn't watching every second pass.

* * *

Back at the house Stef was warming up another bowl of soup for Jude, who had just woken up a few minutes ago. He had been quiet once he noticed Callie wasn't there and Stef had to explain that Callie was at school but she was there to help him with whatever he needed. He had nodded to show that he understood but hadn't spoken a word yet.

Stef sighed as the microwave beeped. She knew that Jude and Lena had built a stronger bond at this point, but she had been working on getting to know Jude better and making him comfortable in her presence. She hoped that he would be alright with just being with her today.

"Alright Sweets, soups up!" she said, walking back into the bedroom with a bowl balanced on a tray. She put the tray on the desk before helping Jude into a sitting position and propping him up with pillows. "Shouldn't be too hot," she commented as she put the tray on his lap.

"Thanks," He said, the first thing he had said all morning.

"I was wondering if this sickness had taken your voice," Stef joked. "Good to hear you talking again. Can you tell me how you feel?"

"Not too good, my head still hurts," Jude said, not quiet meeting Stef eyes. He seemed very focused on his soup bowl, not looking up from the steaming liquid.

"After you eat you can have some ibuprofen, which should help with the aches," Stef said, hoping he would just look up at her once.

Jude at his soup in silence, only finishing about half the bowl before flopping back into the pillows to signal that he was done eating. He felt Stef remove the tray but she didn't leave the room right away, instead she came and sat at the end of the bed, in the same spot Callie had slept the night before. Thinking about Callie, and what he had said to her the night of the wedding, a distressed moan left his lips.

"Are you in pain?" Stef asked, mistaking the sound for one that pertained to his illness.

"Can I ask your opinion?" Jude asked, instead of answering. When Stef hummed and affirmative answer he looked up at her and she was finally able to see the internal struggle that he was going through. It hurt her heart to see him so sad and she immediately made sure that he knew he had her undivided attention.

"If someone said something really mean to you, like on purpose because they were mad, would you ever forgive them?" he asked, thinking back to how he called Callie selfish.

"Well, to be honest, it would depend on what the person said and whether they were sorry for saying it, truly sorry," Stef answered. She wondered if someone had been picking on Jude again, she couldn't imagine that sweet boy saying anything mean to anyone. She thought back to how she hadn't seen Connor in a while and wondered if they had gotten into a fight.

"They said sorry, but the stuff they said was the worst things possible. And they were all lies too!" Jude said, feeling even sorrier.

"Sometimes people can be forgiven for saying things in anger, but not always, especially if the words were particularly hurtful. Let me tell you a story Jude, and let's see if this helps answer your question. Do you remember my dad? He came to dinner that night that Lexi's parents were here," she paused and waited for Jude to nod. "Well, do you remember seeing him at the wedding?"

Jude bit his bottom lip in concentration as he racked his brain for a memory of the man at the wedding. He was shocked that he couldn't remember him being there, what kind of father would miss his child's wedding? Eventually, Jude shook his head.

"You're right to not remember him there, because I uninvited him," she saw the shock fill Jude's eyes. "You see, when I was younger, a little younger than Jesus and Mariana, my dad found out that I might like women instead of men and he wasn't happy about it."

"Why?" Jude interrupted, suddenly very interested in where this story was going and forgetting what had prompted it.

"Well Jude, as you probably know, there are some people in this world who think that it isn't okay for a woman to love another woman or a man to love another man. It's not right, but that's just how some people think," she explained.

"I just don't understand why anyone else should have an opinion or care about who you love, as long as you love them," Jude answered, thinking back to the talk that he had Lena had after he got made fun of for painting his fingernails.

"You are 100% right babe, but not everyone is as smart as you unfortunately, my dad included. So, instead of being okay with how I felt about my friend, he got mad," Stef said.

"He didn't hit you did he?" Jude asked, an undertone of fear in his voice. Stef had to hold herself back from gathering Jude up in her arms. She hated that he associated anger with violence and, not for the first time since they came to live her, she wanted to find their previous foster parents and shake some sense into them.

"No Sweets, he didn't lay a hand on me, he used his words to hurt me though. One night he got really mad and he said that he could never love me if I was going to disrespect God's wishes and continue with my sinner lifestyle," Stef said, closing her eyes briefly at the painful memory, even to that day those words echoed in her head at times.

Jude's eyes were wide with shock. Even though he didn't really have a lot of memories of his dad, he couldn't imagine him saying that to him, ever. He could see that Stef was upset by the memory and he grabbed her hand to comfort her.

"Thanks babe," Stef said, coming out of the memory and rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. "So to bring you back to your original question, my dad did apologize, years later, but I was unable to forgive him and because of that, I asked him not to come to the wedding. I only wanted people who truly supported me at mine and Lena's wedding."

"I'm sorry your dad said that to you, it was very mean of him," Jude said softly, thinking about whether what he said to Callie was as bad as what Stef's dad said to her.

"So do you want to tell me why you asked that?" Stef asked. "Is someone picking on you?"

Jude just shook his head negatively, unsure if he should tell Stef the truth. He was afraid, if she knew how mean he had been, she wouldn't want him to live there anymore.

"Jude…did you say something mean to someone?" Stef asked, slightly shocked.

Once again he didn't verbally answer; he just nodded and looked up at Stef with tears in his eyes. He didn't want her to hate him.

Seeing how upset he was becoming, Stef gathered him, blankets and all, and settled him in her lap. "Now, I know we haven't known each other for a long time Jude, but I think I'm pretty good at telling what kind of person someone is…and when I look at you I see a caring and sweet boy. Sometimes people say things in anger that they don't mean," she said, hoping to easy his worry.

"I told Callie she was selfish… and that she ruins everything…" Jude said quietly, so quiet that Stef almost missed it.

"Oh?" She replied, trying to figure out when this happened and what could have prompted the two siblings to fight.

"I just got so mad at her, I thought… well…" Jude struggled with figuring out what to say, he knew he couldn't say anything about catching Brandon and Callie kissing because then they would get removed from the house. But he also didn't know how he could explain how mad and mean he was to Callie without telling Stef about it.

"Well Jude, let me offer these words of advice. Your sister loves you so much, and it's an intense family love like I haven't really seen before in someone so young. I honestly don't think there is a single thing you could say to her that would change how much she loves you," Stef said, resting her head on his forehead as he relaxed in her lap. She could feel the tension leaving his little body as she spoke. "I can't promise that she will forgive you right away, but I know she will forgive you. Because a love like that doesn't dissolve because of one simple fight and some mean words."

They stayed in their snuggled position for the rest of the day, Jude sleeping and Stef rubbing his arms to comfort him.

* * *

Callie was trying to listen to Mr. Edwards as he went on about the power of expression and the strength of love in the novel they were currently reading but she felt her body drooping without her permission. The anxiety from the morning had drained out of her body as the day went on and she found herself running on fumes.

"And the theme, Love being able to overcome any obstacle, do we think this is a realistic theme? Is it applicable to our world today?" Mr. Edwards asked the class. He looked around, searching for a volunteer until his eyes fell on Callie. He had been keeping a close eye on her since she had been attacked and this was the worst he had seen her since then. She seemed dead on her feet. He thought that maybe, if she was actively participating, she would pepper up a bit. "Ms. Jacobs?"

Callie heard her name being called and she tried to raise her head to meet Mr. Edward's eyes to answer his question but she felt like there were weights on her head preventing her from lifting it. Callie found herself too tired to even care, it had been two days since she had actually slept for more than an hour and she felt like she just couldn't muster up enough energy to even care.

"Callie?" Mr. Edwards asked again, worried by her appearance and lack of response. At this point, the whole class had turned in their seats so they could watch the scene unfold. They figured Callie was just being a delinquent and refusing to listening to the teacher and were hoping for a show.

Seeing that Callie truly was unable to answer him, Mr. Edwards quickly turned to the rest of the class and gave them a silent reading assignment. Once they were occupied he turned his attention back to Callie and wondered if he should call a nurse.

"Callie I need you to answer me," he said softly, kneeling next to her desk, seeing her struggle to keep her eyes open. "Are you alright?"

Callie turned her head ever so slightly and Mr. Edwards could see the exhaustion on her face and how she struggled to stay awake.

"Alright, I'm going to send you to the nurse, there you can lie down and get some sleep that you look like you desperately need," Mr. Edwards finally decided. He looked around the classroom for someone he could trust to guide Callie to the nurse's office and felt himself wishing that Wyatt was still around because he knew the two of them had bonded over his guilt exercise. Feeling frustrated he turned back to the class and said, "I will be right back, that reading should keep you occupied. You won't like the consequences if I come back to find anyone out of their seats."

He gathered Callie's books and put them in her bag before slinging it over his shoulder and helping Callie stand. She leaned heavily on him and still hadn't said much which worried him. He guided her down the hallway to the nurse's office and moved her over to one of the beds they kept in the back.

"What seems to be the problem?" Nurse Jackson asked.

"She's exhausted, she could barely keep her head off the table in class," Mr. Edwards said, looking at Callie as she curled up on the bed and began to close her eyes.

"Well, too much late night TV huh?" the nurse commented, laughing at her own joke that neither of them thought was funny.

"Once she is settled, let Vice Principle Adams know she is here okay?" Mr. Edwards said, about to leave and get back to his class which was probably acting like a bunch of wild monkeys at the moment.

"Is she in trouble?" the nurse asked.

"No, Lena is her foster mother and would want to know if Callie was in the nurses office for any reason," Mr. Edwards said, shocked that the nurse didn't know that. He knelt down next to Callie's bed, where her eyes were open ever so slightly. "Get some sleep Callie; you look like you need it."

And with that, Callie's eyes drifted shut and she finally got the rest her body needed.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

So we had a little Jude/Stef interaction which was cute. I could see Jude trying to go to someone about what happened between him and Callie but having to be vague because of the circumstances so I tried to write it like that. Also, Callie was just exhausted at the end of this chapter; she isn't getting sick like Jude. Remember she hadn't slept for two days and had spent most of her waking time stressed out and anxious. So everything just caught up to her and she couldn't keep her body functioning.

Next chapter I think we will have a little Lena/Callie interaction in the nurses office. I might also have either Talya or Brandon see her there and go and check on what happened, maybe even have one of them go and tell Lena instead of the nurse. Let me know what you think about those ideas.

Also, I'm trying to figure out where I am going to be able to throw some Jesus and Mariana into the story. With Lexi gone, off to Honduras forever, and the thing with Anna kind of coming to a head, I'm struggling with how to incorporate them. I might have some kind of big blow up between them and their birth mom. I know she was arrested but since she didn't actually do anything wrong, I'm assuming that they would have to let her go and that she would continue to try and scam her kids out of money. That might also lead to a little foster family coming together against her kind of thing.

So those are some options. Hope everyone is enjoying.

PS: I'm going peach picking and making probably like a million jars of peach jam tomorrow so I don't know how much time I will have to write. I'll do my best though!


	4. Chapter 4

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: I wasn't sure if I was going to get an update done today but I'm glad to deliver. I hope everyone likes where the story goes in this chapter and some of you may even see some of your suggestions in the story! Enjoy!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

"Hi, you've reached the Foster's …" Lena gently put the phone down with a worried look gracing her face. She had tried to call Stef at home three times already to see how Jude was doing and the fact that she hadn't answered her cell or the home phone was concerning.

Leaning back in her chair she wondered if Callie was faring any better, she knew how worried the girl must be. At least she didn't know about the lack of anyone answering the phone at home.

Lena tried to focus back on the work that she needed to have done. Student schedules for the next semester wouldn't get done on their own and, with so many requests for some higher level classes; she was going to have to see where they could trim some classes to add new ones.

Trying to ignore the worry in the pit of her stomach, Lena pushed the phone away and set back to work. With most of the kids here with her at school, and Jude home with Stef, she knew figured everything should be fine.

* * *

Talya was in the hallway, taking a break from a boring lecture on Newton's second law under the guise of needed the bathroom. She hated when Dr. Kevin lectured on topics and just expected them to sit and take notes for the whole period. She didn't even have Brandon in the class with her to pass notes to.

As she wondered past the nurse's office she was surprised to see Callie in the back, turning restlessly on one of the beds. She noticed the place where the nurse usually sat was empty and wondered what was going on. Not interested in returning to class anyway, she made her way into the office.

"Callie?" She asked softly, not wanting to wake her if she was actually asleep. As soon as she said her name, Callie's eyes opened and she sat up slightly on the bed, she wasn't happy that she was still awake but she knew she hadn't really been sleeping before Talya walked in anyway.

Although Mr. Edwards had left her there sleeping the period before, the nurse had been less than quiet and she went about her daily business and then she had made a point to wake Callie completely to tell her that she was going to the other side of the school to help the elementary nurse try and handle an outbreak of the flu. Callie had rolled back over and hoped to fall back asleep but the small amount she had gotten renewed her worries for Jude and she found herself feeling anxious in the nurses bed.

"Hey," She said softly, propping her back up against the wall and sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"You alright? Where is the nurse?" Talya asked.

"I'm fine, just exhausted. Mr. Edwards brought me here to sleep but Nurse Jackhammer didn't seem to care the most people need quiet to sleep," Callie replied, a small smile gracing her face when Talya laughed at the nickname she had come up with for the nurse.

"Yeah, she isn't the most nurturing of nurses. The one in the elementary wing is much nicer," Talya commented. She was standing awkwardly near the bed, wondering if it would be weird for her to sit next to Callie.

"That's where she went; I guess there are a lot of kids who came to school sick today with the flu. Makes sense that Jude has it now, I never understand why parents send their kids to school sick," Callie said. She noticed how awkwardly Talya was standing and how uneasy she seemed after what Callie said so she moved over so that Talya could sit on the bed but still keep her distance from Callie if she didn't want to be too close to her. Talya took the opportunity to sit down; throwing the bathroom pass she had been playing with to the side.

"Sometimes parents can't take off, or get sitters. I know I went to school sick a few times because of that. I guess some parents think their jobs are more important," Talya answered. Callie looked at her with slightly wider eyes, she felt sorry that she said anything about it now. "It's fine and all, it's kind of nice to have the house to myself so much now that I'm older," Talya continued when she saw that Callie was pitying her. She hated being pitied, she had come to terms with her family situation a long time ago. That was why she loved the Foster's so much, their family dynamic was she envied and desired.

"So…" Callie said, trying to change the topic but not knowing what to talk to Talya about. She wanted to stay off the Brandon subject, seeing as how she kissed him the other night and he was technically now dating Talya…again. Unfortunately, she didn't know the girl too well and that was the only thing they had in common so she was drawing a blank on conversation topics.

"Yeah…" Talya echoed. Both girls paused and then began to laugh at the situation. Clearly they both couldn't find much to talk about.

"Thanks for coming and checking in on me. More than Nurse Jackhammer did," Callie said, giving Talya an out if she wanted to leave.

"No problem. Actually, seeing as how this is the first time we've been alone together since … well ever," she laughed at the thought. "I have something to say to you, I wanted to thank you, you know, for coming after me a few weeks ago. Besides Brandon, you were the only person that seemed to care how I felt about the…you know, video. And I know I wasn't always the nicest person to you, which was totally wrong of me, and yet you still stood up for me. I can see what Brandon saw in you." Talya had no idea how awkward she had just made this conversation for Callie with that last statement. Callie decided to try and ignore it.

"Those guys were jerks for videotaping you and assholes for posting it online. I know how much it sucks to have one mistake that you made, begin to define you," Callie said, referring to how her stint at Juvie kept her from making any friends at this school. Who were they to judge her, they had no idea what had happened, that she had only done what she did to protect her brother.

"Sorry about that again. I know I wasn't the most inviting person when you first got here," Talya apologized.

"It's cool. The word 'Juvie' scares most people. We're cool," Callie said.

"Well… I'm taking a really long time in the bathroom and Dr. Kevin is going to probably be suspicious when I get back," Talya said, grabbing her bathroom pass and standing up. "Try to get some more sleep, you look pretty tired still." And with that Talya left Callie alone in the nurse's office.

As soon as she was in the hallway she pulled out her phone and let Brandon know where Callie was. She knew that they shared the next class together and she didn't want him to worry.

* * *

Brandon was sitting in history when his phone vibrated, signaling an incoming text message. Discretely he pulled the phone out of his pocket and opened the message; he was surprised to see it was from Talya because she knew how he felt about texting during class.

**Callie in nurse. Does ur moms know?**

Brandon was shocked, and almost sure Lena didn't know, because if there was a chance that Callie was sick, Lena would have rushed her home so his mom could take care of her.

Brandon wanted to text his mama and let her know but he knew she would be upset with him texting in class, even if it was for a good reason. He decided to wait until the bell rang and he could visit her at her office, she would write him a pass if he was going to be late.

As soon as the bell rang he was out the door and quickly making his way over to the main office area. When he got there he noticed his mama's door closed.

"Is my mama in there?" he asked the secretary, hoping that maybe she was just taking a call and would be done soon.

"Sorry Brandon. She got called to the elementary wing because there seems to be a lot of kids coming down with the flu. She's helping with the phones so that all the parents can be notified and the kids can all be picked up as soon as possible," she told him and he bit his lip trying to figure out what to do. He knew Lena wouldn't want him running around the school looking for him and she also probably would have her phone on her if he tried to call or text her. He contemplated calling his mom but he knew that she was home with Jude and he wouldn't want to have her drag Jude out of the house to come get Callie while he was sick.

Biting his lip and bouncing on his toes for a minute Brandon made the decision to text Lena and hope she got it soon. He quickly made his way out of the office with his phone in hand, composing the message so it would be done by the time he got in class.

He arrived in music just on time and was very grateful to not have to explain why he was late. He couldn't help but notice Callie's empty seat and he began to try and mentally will Lena to check her phone.

* * *

"Jamie has a fever and needs someone to pick her up from school…yes…at the front…thank you very much," Lena said before hanging up. She was eternally grateful to finish calling the last parent on the list.

As a charter school, they did have a limited staff, and with this sudden outbreak of the flu she had been asked to step in and help notify the parents. She was more than thankful for the distraction though because she still had the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Thanks for all your help Lena," Nurse Jillian said, finishing her last phone call as well. "It would have taken us at least another hour to finish those calls if you hadn't come to save us," she joked.

"Not a problem at all. Glad that I could help. All those poor kids. I have one of my own at home sick today and I know he was miserable when we left today," Lena said, hoping Stef had gotten one of her messages and had called her back. She went to check her phone only to realize she had left it in her office.

"Who's home sick? Jesus? Mariana?" Nurse Jillian asked.

"No…it's Jude Jacobs actually, Stef and I have been fostering him and his sister Callie. We spoke with them the day of the wedding and they agreed to bless us by joining our family so we are going to start the adoption process soon. I guess I already see them as our children though," Lena said, sharing with her co-workers for the first time their plans to adopt again.

"Wow, adding two more to the family huh?" Jillian replied, happy for her co-worker and friend. "That's a big deal."

"Yeah, but they really deserve to have a good family, and they have enriched our lives from the moment they came into it. I can't imagine either of them not being there," Lena said, trying not to think about how they almost lost Callie the other day.

"Well congratulations, I think we all know that they couldn't have found a more loving family to join," Jillian said.

"Thanks Jill, I think I'll do some rounds and check on my children," Lena said, standing and stretching before walking out into the hallway.

Luckily she only had to visit two different classrooms to check on each of her children because third hour was when the twins shared a class and Callie and Brandon shared a class. She went to the twin's classroom first, making sure they were both paying close attention to their math lesson, especially Jesus because it wasn't his strongest subject. Smiling at how focused they both looked Lena went down the hall to the music area where Brandon and Callie should have been in class. She saw Brandon right away, headphones on, focused over a keyboard but looking frustrated. As she looked for Callie over in the area where the school guitars were, she was shocked to see she wasn't there.

Lena felt her body go cold at Callie's absence and immediately she began to think about the fact that Callie might have run, she might be gone. It wasn't an unrealistic fear, Callie had gotten off of school property and onto a bus without her knowing before, what was to stop her from doing it again? The feeling that she had in her pit of her stomach all morning intensified and she felt her knees go weak.

Her hand found the doorknob and she tried to will herself to open the door and ask about Callie's whereabouts. Maybe she had just gone to the bathroom or something, maybe nothing was wrong. After all, Brandon didn't seem too upset or bothered by her absence.

Eventually she calmed herself down enough to knock once before opening the door.

"Mrs. Adams, can I help you?" the music teacher, Ms. Simons, asked.

"I'm looking for Callie Jacobs?" she said, trying to steady her voice even though she was panicking on the inside.

"Callie never joined us today, and I don't believe I've seen her today," Ms. Simons said, only causing Lena's panic to rise.

Over in the corner, Brandon sighed in frustration as he once again missed a key note in the sequence he was practicing. He looked around to see if Ms. Simons was around to give him some pointers on how to get his fingers in the right position to complete it when he realized that everyone was looking over to the door, he was shocked to see his mama there, panic clearly creeping onto her face.

Immediately he realized that she probably didn't get his text and had no idea where Callie was, seeing as how she tried to run away two days before, he understood her panic.

Quickly taking his headphones off he got their attention by asking, "Are you looking for Callie?"

Lena and Ms. Simons turned towards him at his question.

"Do you know where she is?" Lena asked, desperately hopeful. Ms. Simons wasn't sure what was going on but she could tell it was serious so she stayed quiet and let the mother and son talk.

Brandon could see how frightened she looked, although she just seemed frazzled to the untrained eye, Brandon knew her too well and the glossy look in her eyes showed she was on the verge of tears. He quickly got up from the bench and went over to her, moving her towards the door and away from the other students because he knew she wouldn't want them to see her in this state.

"She is in the nurse's office, Talya saw her there last period," Brandon said quickly and quietly, he didn't need an audience or a bunch of kids gossiping about things they knew nothing about.

"Oh thank God," Lena said with a high sigh of relief.

"She's fine… I think," Brandon assured her, placing his hand on her arm to further calm her down.

Ms. Simons could see that this was a family thing that was going on between her vice principle and her student so she quickly got the attention of the rest of the students and made sure they were focused on their own work instead of what Lena and Brandon were talking about.

"Okay, I am going to check on her now, you alright to stay here?" Lena asked, knowing that she had frightened Brandon slightly by her reaction to Callie's absence from class. It hadn't been intentional but all she could think of, when she saw that empty seat, was that Callie had taken off and they were never going to see her again.

"I'm fine mama, go see her and make sure she's okay. If you need to take her home I'll make sure the twins walk home with me and we'll meet you there after school," Brandon said. As much as he wanted to leave class right away and check on Callie, he knew that she probably wouldn't want to see him at the moment and that someone had to be responsible for the twins if Lena had to bring her home.

"Thank you sweetie," Lena said, fighting back the urge to hug him and kiss him on the cheek. "I'll text you if we end up leaving. And I'm giving you permission this one time only to check your phone in class," she said with a smile.

"Got ya mama," he replied, watching her leave with a longing look. He wondered if he was going to regret his decision.

* * *

Lena tried not to run to the nurse's office but her pace was certainly quicker than normal. Had any student walked out of their classroom they would have witnessed their normally very reserved vice principle speed walking down the hall in heels, clacking loudly as she walked.

When she reached the secondary nurse's office she almost cried out in relief when she saw Callie sleeping on the bed in the back of the office. Even though Brandon had told her she was in the nurse's office, she couldn't shake the fear of her being gone until she finally saw her.

She already knew that Nurse Jackson was in the elementary wing but she wasn't too happy that she had left Callie here on her own and didn't even think to tell her that she was there. Sometimes she wondered why that woman even got into nursing in the first place, especially in a school district, if she didn't like kids.

She slowly and carefully made her way over to Callie's bed, trying to be quiet and not interrupt her sleeping. If she was sick she would need all the sleep she could get, especially if she caught Jude's flu.

Unfortunately for her, Callie had always been a light sleeper. It was something she had developed over years of living in abusive foster homes; she learned to always be on her toes.

"Lena?" she asked, slightly disoriented. She had just gotten back to sleep and now she was being woken up again, she began to wonder why she bothered.

"Hey Callie, you alright?" Lena asked, sitting on the very edge of the small bed, just needing to be close to her.

"Yeah, I was just so tired…" Callie said, embarrassed that she was in the nurse's office for being too tired. She wouldn't have ever checked herself into there but Mr. Edwards had been insistent and she was too tired to argue.

"But you're not sick?" Lena asked, needing confirmation.

"No," Callie said quickly. She propped herself on her elbow and tried to prove how 'not-sick' she was. As soon as she was sitting up, Lena couldn't help herself, she leaned in and pulled Callie to her and into a tight hug.

"Whoa," Callie said, not used to being hugged by anyone other than Jude. Lena held on tightly until Callie's arms came up to hug her back.

"I was so scared that you left us," Lena said into her hair, holding back tears.

Callie was shocked and froze. No one had ever wanted her before, no one had ever cared if she stuck around, she was used to being a once a month paycheck for her foster parents.

She felt loved and wanted…and it scared her.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

So… I was a little unsure of the chapter, and I'm afraid some characters might have been a little out of character and it wasn't really my intention. I needed to get certain plot points out and I think I may have sacrificed some of the characterization that I strive for…I hope not…but if it happened I am sorry and I promise I will be back on point in my next update.

On a happier note, I was able to incorporate a few suggestions from my wonderful reviewers. Lena finding Callie missing from class and going into a bit of a panic was someone's idea that I just found so perfect for my story so that was in here. And some of you asked for some Callie/Talya so that was there, I also had a very little Callie/Lena in the end. I plan to have a little more in the very near future but I loved the idea of Lena being so overwhelmed by Callie still being part of her life that she just hugged her. I felt that was a good place to stop this chapter.

Hope everyone enjoyed!

PS: I made enough peach jam to last me a lifetime…or a zombie apocalypse… whatever comes first.


	5. Chapter 5

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: Got you another chapter, at my usual after midnight time, my time. I hope everyone enjoys this one. It will be the last one that takes place on this "day" because we will be moving forward after that. Getting on to bigger and better storylines (not better but you know what I mean). I'm still looking for something to get Mariana and Jesus really involved in the story so if you have any ideas please feel free to shoot them my way. AND…on a completely different topic, crepes with homemade peach jam and Neufchatel cheese is deliscious!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

When the final bell of the day rang, Callie was very excited to be going home and back to Jude. She had spent most of her day in the nurse's office trying to sleep and had only managed to get about an hour's worth even though she was there for at least four.

She met up with the rest of the family at Lena's car in the faculty parking lot. She slumped against the car door as she waiting with her soon-to-be siblings for one of her soon-to-be moms to join them.

"I call shot gun!" Mariana yelled as soon as Lena came into sight. She pumped her fist in victory as she won the coveted front seat. It had become a bit of a game between all of them, who could get the front seat to and from school.

Jesus groaned and called out, "then I call the back." It wasn't that it was a long car ride or anything; they all just liked their space after school, which was why they used to walk. But after the whole Liam thing, they had taken to coming and going in the car with Lena except under very special circumstances in which Brandon would then drive them.

Lena unlocked the car and everyone piled in, Mariana in the front, Jesus in the way back, and Brandon and Callie next to each other in the middle.

"Feeling any better?" Brandon asked, trying to make conversation with Callie to try and get a read on where they were at in their current relationship.

"A little," Callie answered. She still felt exhausted but not like she was going to pass out.

"Well, when we get home I would like you to try and lay down for a bit," Lena said, overhearing their conversation.

"I want to check on Jude before I do anything," Callie insisted, her voice letting everyone in the car know that it was non-negotiable.

Lena sighed, she could tell that Callie wasn't used to taking orders and having to respect and listen to an adult. She was used to being her own caretaker and Jude's. It was going to be a hard habit for her and Stef to break; they wanted her to learn to come to them for help and to rely on them.

"That's fine, but after you see that he is fine, I want you to try and relax, get some more sleep," Lena said, conceding a little but also throwing in some parenting as well. She figured that they could slowly incorporate little requests and hopefully Callie would become more used to their guiding hands and help.

Callie didn't reply, but nodded slightly, showing that she agreed to those terms.

When they pulled up to the house, Callie was the first person out of the car and through the front door. Even though they had been staying with the Foster's for almost five months already, and they had been very understanding and caring, there had been good foster homes in the past that didn't work out. Callie wasn't planning on letting her guard down anytime soon and she definitely wasn't going to let anything happen to Jude.

Opening the door to the boy's room she was imagining the worst scene possible but she was shocked to see Jude curled up in Stef's arms, sleeping soundly. Stef looked at her and smiled, trying to be reassuring and let her know that Jude was alright without having to talk and possibly wake him up.

"How is he?" She whispered, finally finding her voice and getting past her shock at seeing Jude well taken care of.

"Sleeping, for the past three hours straight. I need to wake him up soon for some more medicine," Stef whispered back, she used a free hand to pat an empty spot next to her so Callie could come closer and see for herself.

Callie slowly did just that, sitting as close to Jude as possible which meant sitting as close to Stef as possible.

"Was he alright, all day?" Callie asked, confused. She had imagined how Jude would look all day at school and now that she was actually seeing him, it was nothing like she expected.

"He was quiet when he woke up, no doubt missing his big sister, but then he ate and the two of us had a nice talk. Jude told me what happened during the wedding," Stef explained.

Callie tensed and froze. Her mind was racing with the idea that Jude had told Stef about her and Brandon kissing at the wedding. She couldn't imagine him saying that, because he knew it would get them both removed from the home, but she also couldn't think of what else there was to talk about.

Stef could see Callie's posture and demeanor change. She thought that Callie was still upset and mad at Jude for what he said to her. "He is really sorry Callie. Jude worships you and is really broken up at the idea that you won't even forgive him," she said, trying to defuse the situation.

"Sorry? What does he have to be sorry for?" Callie asked, her head muddled and unable to focus due to her sleep deprivation and her panic.

"Jude told me about how he got mad at you and called you selfish," Stef said slowly, becoming a little confused as well. Had something else happened at her wedding that she didn't know about?

"Oh…that…" Callie said, bringing her thoughts together. She knew that Stef was now suspicious and that wasn't something she could handle at the moment so she knew she had to play this right. "I'm not really mad at him… or…I never was."

Stef thought about what Callie was saying for a moment. She knew how bad Jude had felt for calling his sister, the sister who would literally do anything for him, selfish. But she didn't seem to even care that he had done it, in fact, she kind of sounded like she agreed with his statement.

"Callie…the other night…when you tried to leave, was it because of what Jude said? Was it because you believe what he said is true?" Stef asked carefully, she didn't want the girl to bolt on her. She remembered how Callie kept whispering how sorry she was that night, was she apologizing for being so selfish? Did she see her inability to leave as yet another selfish act?

Callie's silence said more than her words ever could.

"Oh Sweets," Stef said, using her free arm to pull Callie into her side. She hurt for Callie, for this girl who had been through so much that she had such little self-worth. "You, my dear, are not selfish. In fact, I bet you don't have a selfish bone in your body." She said, missing Callie's wince at her words.

Callie couldn't help but think how wrong Stef was, if she wasn't so selfish she wouldn't have kissed Brandon. She wouldn't have given into temptation and went after the first thing she had really wanted since her mom died and left her and Jude alone. She didn't realize that she was just human, she had wants and desires like everyone else. She had just been denying them for so long, in order to take care of Jude, that she no longer recognized them as natural feelings.

Lena was standing in the doorway witnessing the touching sight. She coughed quietly into her hand in order to alert them to her presence. Callie and Stef's head both shot up, unaware they had an audience.

"Come on Callie, you need to rest a little before dinner. You've seen Jude, and how well he was cared for today while you were at school, and now you need to focus on taking care of yourself a little," Lena said, coming over to Callie's side and pulling her to her feet.

Callie couldn't argue that Jude was well taken care of but she still didn't want to leave him, her eyes locked on his sleeping body.

"Callie?" Lena asked, trying to get Callie to follow her out so she could get some quality sleep in her own bed, a bed she hadn't slept in for days.

"Uh…I know that, um, that Jude is in good hands with you…but," she bit her lip, looking at Lena and then Stef, "could I, maybe…stay with him anyway?" Lena and Stef both shared a look, Callie's voice sounded so vulnerable that they couldn't help but have their resolve crumble.

"Okay Callie, as long as your promise to rest," Stef said, looking at Lena to make sure it was okay. Stef carefully laid Jude back on the bed, his head gently on the pillow, and stood up. Callie immediately took her place on the bed, resting her back against the wall. She just couldn't take her eyes off of Jude. She had, in her mind, begun to come to terms with the fact that the Foster's were good people and were able and willing to care for her and Jude. She just didn't know what to do with that information because the feelings it was causing within her were foreign to her.

"We will be back in about an hour to give Jude more medicine and to check on you, you better be resting!" Lena said, mocking threateningly. And with that, both women left them alone.

* * *

Meanwhile Brandon, Jesus, and Mariana were in the kitchen, grabbing a snack after school. As they circled around the bowl of chips on the table, they began to quietly discuss their two soon-to-be siblings.

"I'm really worried about Callie," Mariana said finally, looking up the stairs to see if either of their moms were about to come down and interrupt them. They had waited until Lena had followed Callie up the stairs before breaking out the chips and beginning their talk.

"Me too, she just seems so sad recently," Jesus said, hating how depressed his newest sister was acting.

"I thought she would've been so excited that we would be sisters soon, that we would all be family," Mariana said, thinking about how close they had gotten since Callie had protected her from Liam a few short months ago.

"And what about what Mama said yesterday, that she is having a tough time transitioning or something like that?" Jesus said, trying to figure it out. Like his twin, he had felt himself grow closer to Callie and Jude since Callie's attack. When he had promised her that he would watch over Jude for her until she was able to do so again, he meant it, and had taken that oath very seriously. It just so happened that he decided to watch over both of them after she was out of the hospital, because he couldn't stand the thought of anyone hurting either of them.

"She said that Callie might not feel like she really belongs here with us or that she deserves to be here with us," Brandon said, speaking up for the first time. He was just as worried about Callie as the twins were, but he had a little more insight to why Callie might be a little down. He couldn't help but wonder if the kiss was a little more one sided than he thought. He feared that he had been too aggressive with the kiss and now Callie was scared of him or associated him with Liam. He desperately wanted to talk to her about it, but he didn't want to upset her either.

"But why? Is it because of us? Something we did?" Mariana asked, wondering if she had done some, or said something, that would make her feel that way. She knew that he hadn't been very welcoming in the beginning but they had really gotten close in the past few months.

"I don't think so," Brandon commented.

"Is it because of that bastard Liam?" Jesus asked, spitting out his name like it was dirt on his tongue.

"More likely. Callie…and Jude for that matter…they've had some bad foster homes, as we all know. She probably is afraid, that we'll turn out like one of them or something," Brandon tried to rationalize with his siblings.

"So is there anything we can do to help?" Mariana asked, looking to her older brother for guidance.

"I guess we can just keep being there for her when she needs us," Brandon said, knowing that, in his case, that meant giving her space.

Their chat ended as they heard Lena and Stef coming down the stairs.

"How's my roomie?" Jesus asked.

"He's feeling a little bit better today than yesterday but he's still pretty out of it," Stef said.

"Callie's up there with him now, getting some sleep I hope." Lena added. "You might be out of your room again tonight, sorry Jesus."

"It's cool; my room in the den has a big screen TV!" He joked.

"Is Callie going to come back to our room tonight?" Mariana asked, she had missed the other girl's presence the past couple of nights. She had gotten used to the sound of someone else breathing and was finding it strange to sleep in a dead silent room.

"I doubt it Mari, she just wants to be with her brother while he's sick," Stef said, wishing that Callie would try to get a good night's sleep in her own room tonight but not seeing it as a viable possibility.

* * *

Later that night, Callie found herself reading quietly to Jude while he drifted back off to sleep. He had woken up a few times to take medicine and eat a little but he rarely had much to say when he was awake. The first time he woke up Callie tried to talk to him about the whole "selfish" thing again but all he said was that he was sorry and he didn't mean it and that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Callie had respected his wishes and didn't bring it up again.

"Mr. Tushman raised his eyebrows and nodded, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he kind of blew into his hands, like you do when your hands are cold. "Jack," he said, "I don't really know what to say here. I mean you punched a kid. We have rules about that kind of thin, you know? Automatic expulsion. And you're not even trying to explain yourself."" Callie read, seeing Jude's eyes close out of the corner of her eyes. Seeing that he finally succumbed to sleep she marked her spot and closed Wonder and put it on his bedside table. She really loved that book because of the message it had, that no matter what you look like and who you are, you can find good friends who will be true to you.

Callie made herself comfortable at the foot of his bed and tried to get some sleep herself. Jude hadn't thrown up at all since last night and she was hoping to get some real sleep so she would be able to focus in school the next day.

After ten minutes of staring at the ceiling Callie realized that she wasn't ready to go to bed, despite how little sleep she had gotten over the past 48 hours.

Getting up carefully as to not wake Jude, she fixed his blankets over him and left the room. She decided to head to the kitchen to get a drink of juice or something, maybe that would help her get to sleep.

Callie hadn't given much thought to where Jesus was sleeping so she almost pissed her pants when he interrupted her quiet thoughts with a questioning, "Callie? Is that you?"

Before she could answer he walked into the kitchen, wearing just his pajama bottoms. "Did I wake you?" she asked once she recovered from the shock of someone being downstairs.

"Nah, late night TV was getting boring. I guess we both had the same idea to get something to drink to help us sleep," Jesus replied. He was only slightly lying, when he heard someone come down the stairs he assumed it was Callie and anything he had been watching seemed unimportant compared to getting a chance to talk to her alone.

"Oh," Callie said, getting the juice out of the refrigerator while Jesus got the glasses.

"So…how are you?" Jesus asked as they both sat at the kitchen table. "I mean, like how are you feeling since moms asked you to join our family?" He amended his first question after seeing her eyebrows rise he asked it.

"Fine I guess. Haven't had a lot of time to process it with Jude being sick and all," Callie answered honestly. She really hadn't given their possible adoption any thought since the morning of the wedding.

"Well, I for one want to let you know how excited I am to have you and Jude as siblings," he said, trying to make her smile.

"We're pretty happy with you as our brother," she replied, letting a small smile grace her lips.

"Callie…" he said, looking at her to let her know he was about to be serious, "You know how much we all care about you, and I'm no exception to that fact, and I guess I just wanted you to know, if something was bothering you, you could come and talk to me," he finally got out, stumbling a bit.

Callie snorted as she tried to hold back a laugh, biting her lip to prevent herself from laughing even more. She could barely stifle it though. Even though she knew he was being completely serious, she was just so tired and it was so out of character for him.

"I'm being serious," he said carefully, thinking Callie was acting a little crazy at the moment.

"Yeah I know. I'm sorry for laughing. I'm a little slap-happy I guess. Thank you for the offer," Callie said, getting her laughing under control and feeling a little bad for doing it in the first place at the look on Jesus' face. "It's just…" she began, feeling as though she should share something in order to make up for laughing at him.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Jesus was quick to add, knowing Callie was a little uncomfortable.

"It's just that…this is all so new and overwhelming for me. I haven't had a real family in over 6 years," Callie confessed, letting Jesus in a little bit. He came around the put a hand on her shoulder.

"So I think it's time you are part of one again," he told her. She looked up at him with a watery smile. There was something about him, a warmth that radiated from him, that comforted her and made her think that he might be telling the truth. That she might be ready to be part of a family again.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Alright, so we had a little Callie and the moms and a little Jesus and Callie interaction in this chapter. And we got a little Foster sibling pow-wow in the middle there. I just felt that they would come together as a group and try to help Callie feel better or something but then there would be Brandon who was keeping a big secret from the group and all.

I feel like the story has been a little lateral recently and for that I apologize, I will be move forward a bit in the next chapter, letting Jude get better and include him in more family interactions. Callie will eventually have to return to her bed in her room that she had said goodbye too (which will be a little scene that I'm planning). And I think I will need to write a little Callie/Brandon because they haven't had a scene since the kiss really and it's kinda past due for them to have a talk.

Got a lot going on in the next few days with family birthdays and unfortunately a wake and funeral to attend so the updates may not be nightly but I will do my best.

And, as a very last note I promise, the book that Callie was reading to Jude is in fact called Wonder, written by R.J. Palacio. It is a wonderful children's lit book that I encourage everyone to read, no matter what your age. Even though I consider myself an adult, I found this a inspiring book that would touch the reader at any age. Check it out!


	6. Chapter 6

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: A day late for updates, but I hope it is worth the wait. We got some important information and some sweet interactions as well as a big decision coming up. Please read the note at the bottom and cast your vote, I will affect the outcome of the story! And as always…enjoy!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Friday morning found the entire Foster's family, including an almost fully recovered Jude, hustling around the kitchen table trying to grab toast, juice, and coffee before they had to leave for school.

Callie finished her piece of toast and last bit of coffee before standing to go and refill her cup. Lean cut her off before she could reach the pot, "Callie, could we maybe agree on one cup in the morning at least. We don't normally let our kids drink coffee at all but we are trying to be lenient with you because you are clearly used to it." She spoke softly, not wanting the draw the attention of the rest of the kids.

Callie's eyes went wide at the thought of someone taking away her morning coffee. "Um…I guess," she eventually agreed, putting the cup down in the sink and moving back over to her spot next to Jude at the table. Lena smiled over at Stef at their small victory. Baby steps she had to remind herself.

Just as they were about to head out the door Stef's cell phone rang.

"Work," She commented out loud, looking down at the caller ID. At the sound of who it was, Lena shot Stef a look that clearly said that she didn't want her to answer it.

"We still have you for three more days before you are back to work," she said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice.

"They are probably just giving me details about my return to work, you guys are about to leave me for school anyway," Stef reasoned with her. Lena eventually nodded her head in exasperation. "Officer Stef Foster," she answered.

"Alright kids, get your bags together. We have to leave, like now, or we are going to be late," Lena said, trying not to be angry at Stef for taking the work call. She knew that she was returning to work next week but she had been really enjoying the fact that she had Stef all to herself this past month.

When she went back into the kitchen to give Stef a kiss goodbye she noticed a change in her whole demeanor. Instead of seeming excited about her impending return she looked nervous and worried.

"What's wrong?" she asked, as soon as Stef hung up the phone.

"Ah…can you call the kids back in here. They should be around to hear this; it's something worth being late for," Stef said, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"Okay," Lena agreed without questioning. There was some times in their relationship that they just knew when the other was being serious, when they knew there was no room for questions, and they just trusted the other implicitly and did what they asked.

Soon five confused kids came back into the kitchen and retook their seats. Callie grabbed Jude's hand under the table, scared that this had to do with the two of them not being able to stay any longer, that she had finally pushed them too far.

"What's going on mom?" Brandon asked, seeing the concern written across her face he knew something was wrong, she never let her face betray her worry unless it was really bad.

"That was my boss, but she wasn't calling about my return to work next week. Actually, she was informing me about someone getting released from prison," Stef started. Callie felt her heart jump into her throat, she was worried that it was Liam, or maybe even her father. Both of them would spell out trouble for Callie. If it was Liam, he would be coming back with a vengeance for his jail time, and if it was her dad, well he might try and take her and Jude away from the Foster's.

"Who?" Mariana asked, having her own fears that Anna was finally released. The pitying look that Stef threw her way let her know that she was probably right.

"Anna, Jesus and Mariana's birth mother, was released this morning. She had been held for having drug paraphernalia in her residency and for soliciting money from a minor," Stef explained. They had tried to get her on drug possession charges, which would have meant more jail time, but she happened to be clean when they brought her in and she used the defense that all the drugs were her dead boyfriends. Thankfully they had gotten her with Mariana's testimony about how she had taken money from her and had encouraged her to steal from Stef in Lena in order to get more money from her.

"But how? After what she did?" Jesus asked, upset that she was being let out after only 40 days in jail. In his opinion she should have been thrown in jail for life, it was her fault that Stef was shot, her and her drug abusing boyfriend.

"Her testimony against her boyfriend laid a lot of the blame on him, and since he couldn't exactly contradict her statements, they only had one side of the story to listen to. She also played the battered woman card so the prosecution let her take a plea bargain. She had mandatory rehab in the women's facility she was in and she had three years of probation. If she is caught using again, she gets thrown back in jail," Stef explained. She could see a varying amount of emotions crossing her family's face. Jesus and Mariana looked both guilty and upset. Brandon was fuming silently. Callie and Jude both looked worried. The only person she couldn't read was the one she should have known better than anyone, Lena.

"Did they tell you because they are afraid she's going to come after you or something?" Jude asked, wondering why they called Stef specifically to tell her that.

"No sweetie…" Stef sighed, trying to find the words. "After what happened, Lena and I decided to file a restraining order against her. We don't want any of you near her, for any reason. Right now at least," she added that last part for the twins. As much as she loathed admitting it, if the twins wanted to have some kind of a relationship with their birth mother, after she was clean and sober, she and Lena wouldn't deny them that.

"I don't care, I don't ever want to see her again," Mariana bit out, knowing exactly what Stef was getting at.

"You might not want to now, but there may be a time in the future when you feel the need to reach out and talk to her. If she continues her program and gets better and it becomes an option, then there may come a time when you have questions for her," Lena explained. She knew how guilty Mariana felt, she felt as though Stef getting shot was her fault. Lena hoped that one day Mariana would be able to face Anna and ask her why she did what she did and that would give her some closure to the whole thing. She may not be able to avoid associating Stef's life threatening injury with Mariana, but she still loved her and hated seeing her hurting this way.

Callie could see the turmoil in Mariana's eyes and she discretely took her hand under the table to give her silent support. She couldn't imagine having a parent who basically used her for money; and then to have that parent, who she thought loved her, turn around and lie to her and hurt someone close to her, it was just terrible. Mariana smiled at her and held on tight, as much as she wanted to pretend that she hated Anna now, Mariana couldn't help but hold on to the fact that she is her birth mother.

"Anyway…the rules of the restraining order state that she isn't allowed within 500 feet of anyone of you," Stef said, making sure to look at each and every one of her children so they knew that it applied to them. "She is also not allowed to contact you electronically, that means no phone calls, emails, texts, tweets… or whatever other forms of electronic communication there are."

"I doubt she tweets, but we understand what you are saying," Jesus said. He felt very conflicted about the whole thing. Originally he had felt Mariana was so stupid for finding her and seeing her behind their moms' backs; but then when he went to see her and saw how sad and pathetic her life was, he just felt bad for her. He had wanted to help her so badly, wanted to get her better so that she could really be a part of their lives, a part that he would been proud of. But then, with all that happened, he didn't know if he could look at her ever again without hatred in his eyes.

"So, if you see her, or she does try to contact you or anything, we need you to come right to us and tell us, or if it happens at school you need to tell your teachers immediately. A stipulation of her probation is that she doesn't break the rules of her restraining order," Stef finished.

"And I will be sending your teachers an email letting them know this, so if something does happen they are ready and knowledgeable on how to handle it. Just, please, promise us you will tell someone if she tries to contact you or approach you," Lena said, trying to not focus on one child in particular but ended up sneaking a spare look at Mariana without meaning to.

"I promise," Mariana said sadly, feeling Callie tighten her grip in support.

Lena wanted to apologize, or tell Mariana that it was okay and that she forgave her, but it was honestly something she was still working on. She loves Mariana with all her heart, but she couldn't help but think how her lie almost cost her the love of her life.

"Alright, you guys are off to school now and I have some grocery shopping to do,' Stef said, trying to change the topic and get everyone's mind off of it.

"Don't forget more Gatorade! We have a game next week," Jesus said, picking up his bag and heading out the door, pulling Mariana with him which lead to the rest of his siblings following him out.

"You can't keep blaming her," Stef said, grabbing Lena before she turned and left too. "She wasn't the one who shot me."

"I know, and I don't blame her, not really. I think…the problem is that I don't trust her anymore. She kept this huge secret from us for so long, and then she pulled Jesus into it, and then their involvement was the reason you were shot," Lena said, reiterating what she had said to Stef when she had been lying unconscious in the hospital, only this time Stef could hear her and respond.

"She's a kid, a scared kid who grew up wondering why no one loved her. I guess she needed answers, answers she didn't think she would get if she met with Anna under our supervision," Stef said. Whereas Lena seemed to associate Mariana with Stef's shooting, Stef truly saw it as just another day on the job. She could be shot every day she walks out the door in uniform, it was a risk she took to keep people safe, to keep the people she loves safe.

"I know, I'm working on it. I didn't even want to say that at her…" Lena said, leaning her head onto Stef's shoulder.

"I know, and I think she knows that too. Now, go, get our kids to school. What will the parent board think! Vice Principal's children all late!" Stef joked, patting Lena on the ass to get her moving.

* * *

As the final bell rang for the day and the kids made their way to Lena's car for their ride home, Callie made sure to pull Mariana aside. They weren't out of sight of their brother's, who shot them a look to make sure it stayed that way, but they were far enough away that their conversation was private.

"Hey, I know Anna getting released, and now this whole restraining order thing, isn't going to be easy. If you ever want someone to talk to, or you, just to vent at or around. You know I'm there right?" Callie said, meeting Mariana's eyes.

"Yeah, I know. And you too, right?" Mariana asked. "I mean you know that you can come to me for … whatever," she elaborated.

"Yeah, I just might take you up on that offer tomorrow, depending on how my session goes and stuff," Callie agreed. She hadn't been looking forward to her therapy session all week, she knew that Lena had talked to her therapist and there was a boatload of things that she would try to cover on Saturday. Callie had even overheard Stef and Lean discussing paying for a double session so that they could cover more than usual. She didn't know what she was going to do, or how she was going to get through it all. But she was going to try, for Jude and for her chance to be happy with this family.

* * *

That night, after they finished cleaning up from dinner, each member of the Foster family separated in order to have some 'me time,' or in some people's case, some 'sibling time.'

Lena retreated to the office to get some work done that she had missed during Stef's recovery. Stef stole the iPad and locked herself away in her room to watch her guilty pleasure, Supernatural. Jesus took Jude outside and was showing him some basketball tricks, their laughter floating through the house. Mariana was writing an email to Lexi, who had written to her the day before asking about how everyone was doing and letting her know all about being back in Honduras. This left Brandon and Callie, the two members of the house that had been actively avoiding each other.

Normally, during these kind of nights where there was no family time planned, they would have gone up to Brandon's room and made music. Instead Callie found herself reading on the bench in the kitchen, hoping Brandon would take himself upstairs to work on his newest piano piece or something. She never expected him to come into the kitchen with the intent to talk to her.

"Callie?" He asked quietly, approaching slowly. They basically had the whole bottom floor to themselves at the moment but that didn't mean that they couldn't be interrupted.

"Yeah?" She answered, questioningly. She marked her place in her book and sat up, trying to give Brandon her full attention but wondering why he was doing this now.

"I was wondering if, maybe, we could talk about…you know," he didn't want to say it out loud because of the fact that anyone could be listening. Their house wasn't known for respecting each other's privacy after all.

"No," Callie said, shaking her head vigorously. "We can't talk about it. We can't think about it, we can't repeat it, and we certainly can't discuss it." She said, her voice thick with emotion.

"Callie…" Brandon said, his face scrunched up with comprehension of what she was saying. She was basically saying that they had to forget about it, pretend it never happened. He wasn't sure he could do that, it had meant something to him. He thought it meant something to her too.

"No Brandon, don't Callie me. We've talked about this, we can't…" She said, screwing her eyes shut as if to block out the possibility of eve thinking about it. "We can't," she finally said, sounding stronger.

"You've talked, I've listened. Don't you think that's a little unfair?" Brandon asked, getting a little angry at how his feelings on the matter were being disregarded. "I know I wasn't alone in how I felt that night," he said, staying vague so that anyone who overheard them would have no idea what they were talking about.

"Please Brandon, not now. Let me…let me think or something. Work everything out…I don't know," Callie said, struggling. She needed time to think about this, she needed to think about how she truly felt; what she really needed was someone who she could talk to about the whole messed up situation, someone unbiased.

Brandon could see that she was getting upset, and that was the last thing he wanted. "Okay Callie. I'm sorry, I don't mean to push you, or make you uncomfortable. Really I don't. You know how much I care about you, right?" He asked, needed to know that he hadn't lost everything he had with Callie. Even if they never could become more than siblings, he couldn't lose her as a friend too. Her friendship meant too much to him.

"I know, trust me I know," Callie said. And with that, Brandon left her there, alone with her book.

Callie leaned back, letting out a shaky breath at the mix of emotions that were running through her. On one hand, being with Brandon was something she had seriously thought about, more than she would ever admit, because he made her feel safe and loved and wanted which was something she sorely missed from when her mom was still alive. On the other hand, if she and Jude were ever to be happy with the Foster family, it wasn't even a possibility. She couldn't have both.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Sorry that I missed last night's update, and that this is slightly shorter than usual but I needed to get something out to your guys. You have been so loyal and just such great reviewers that I felt bad for missing last night. Thank you for all the well wishes about the wake and the funeral. It's been a busy week, and it's only Wednesday.

So, for this chapter we had some Foster family interaction, some kind of plot line for the twins and a new 'evil' for them to kind of fight against in the form of Anna, and the fact that Callie will be seeing her therapist (probably in the next chapter). I also was happy to get some Callie/Mariana in there because I love the sisterly stuff, can't imagine anyone better to talk to than your sister and I think they will both need each other in this story.

Okay…now there was a little scene between Brandon and Callie, long overdue, I know. But what I really, really, really need to know from everyone is…do you want Brallie or not? This is kind of important because I need to decide what I'm going to do with the adoption and stuff. I have an idea for both, them letting go of their feelings and everything and just being 'siblings' and then a different idea for allowing things to work out and them getting together. The thing is, in my opinion, Callie was truly happy with Brandon and I think he is someone who is a good match for her, if only they weren't foster siblings. There are some readers who have been asking for Brallie and some that have specifically asked for no Brallie. I am going to upset someone in future chapters and I'm sorry for that. But it's a big elephant in the plot and needs to be addressed.

So…Poll is…Brallie or not. Leave your personal feelings on the idea in a review or something. Winning side goes into the story.

Hope you enjoyed!


	7. Chapter 7

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: AMAZING. That is the only word that comes to mind when I think of my readers and reviewers. You guys have been just…unbelievable. I know this has taken a while to get out, and I apologize for that but I hope it was worth the wait. I'm hoping to be a little more consistent this up and coming week. Enjoy!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Callie spent extra time brushing her teeth that night. She was dreading the night she was about to spend in her bed. In fact, she had been avoiding going back into the room in its entirety, choosing to sleep with Jude while he was recovering instead. So this was going to be the first time she tried to sleep there since the night she almost ran away.

Although she had yet to say it out loud to anyone, or even admit it to herself, she had thought of her room as a sanctuary. Ever since coming to the Foster home, she had used her room as place where she went to get away from everything. After each and every time she had to talk about Liam she would retreat to her room and just relax in her bed, letting the world dissolve around her, leaving her in a state or peace.

Now, as she faced the prospects of going back there, she suddenly felt that her room no longer held that security. When she had attempted to leave, almost a week ago, she had packed away all the warm feelings of that room. As she stood in the doorway, it seemed colder than ever.

"Hey Stranger," Mariana said from her bed, finishing up on her computer and closing it. She had seriously missed Callie's presence the past couple of days and was extremely excited to have her roommate back.

Feeling like Mariana's joke broke the ice; Callie pushed herself through the threshold and smiled over at her.

"You are trying to tell me that you didn't love having your room back for six whole days?" Callie joked back, her smile not really reaching her eyes.

"Well, it did bring me back to better days… day of longer bathroom times and less cold water," Mariana said, catching on to Callie's game. It was one they had played before, each trying to get the other to crack and begin laughing with their strange or outlandish statements.

"I seem to remember a certain fifteen year old saying that she personally loved hearing Brandon squeal in the morning when he got hit by an iceberg," Callie said in return, using the conversation as a distraction while she made her way over to her bed. Sitting down, she couldn't help but feel disappointed when the warm feelings did not immediately return to her.

Mariana bit her lip at the memory, trying to hold her laughter in but eventually failing. "Alright you win that round," she said with a snort.

Both girls laid back in their bed and settled in just as Stef came in.

"Everyone alright in here?" She asked, particularly worried about Callie who had seemed on edge all night. Stef thought it had to do with her double therapy session that she had the next day, but each time she tried to get Callie to open up about it, the girl shut down.

"Uh huh," Callie answered, knowing Stef was basically talking to her. Now that she was in the bed she didn't feel as awkward as she thought she would, but she also didn't feel as comfortable as she had hoped she would. With that obstacle out of the way, she knew the next bridge she would have to cross was her therapy session.

"Alright, well goodnight girls. Try to get some sleep tonight because you both are going to be pretty busy tomorrow," Stef said, turning off the light and leaving the girls alone.

Both girls shared quiet goodnights before settling under their covers and attempting to sleep.

* * *

Morning came far too quickly for Callie. She hadn't been able to get comfortable all night and therefore spent the time tossing and turning instead of sleeping. She felt tired and irritable as she made her way into the bathroom for her designated 20 minutes.

The shower did nothing to help awaken Callie and she hoped that her morning coffee could jolt her awake. She settled down with her cup, the biggest one she could find since Stef and Lena's one cup rule was something she was struggling with, and felt her body hum in satisfaction as the caffeine flooded her system. She was soon joined by the rest of the family who were all hustling and bustling trying to get some food before the day truly began.

"So, I'm taking Callie to Dr. Kimura's office, you have Jesus and Mariana going to the school with you for Jesus' volleyball game, and B, you are taking Jude to the store so he can get some new clothes?" Stef asked, running through the day's current plan.

"New clothes?" Jude asked, cocking his head to the side to accentuate his confusion. He didn't know what was wrong with his current clothes.

"You have grown two inches since you came here buddy, you're pants will be capri pants pretty soon if you keep growing at the rate you are. Brandon's gonna take you to the mall so you can pick out some new clothes, in whatever style you want," Lena explained, ruffling Jude's hair as she spoke.

Callie felt tears well up in her eyes. She felt so touched and emotional over the fact that the Foster's were buying Jude new clothes, from wherever he wanted. Something so simple was making her an emotional mess. She couldn't help it though, the facts were, in previous foster homes, if either of them didn't have a lot of clothes or the clothes they had weren't fitting well, they were given something from the thrift store that looked their size. Very rarely were they allowed to get something new, and they were never allowed to pick it out themselves.

Jude looked over to her with a mega-watt smile on his face. He was so happy that she felt herself smiling back due to the infectiousness of his joy.

"How cool is that baby?" she asked, wishing she could go with him just to enjoy his excitement at the experience. Not only would she not being going with him, she was going to what she had dubbed, 'the only legal form of medical torture.'

"Tonight, just so everyone knows and no one makes any plans," Lena said, looking over to Brandon in particular because he was really the only one left who had someone to make plans with seeing as how Lexi and Wyatt were gone and Connor was sick with the same flu Jude had earlier in the week. "We will be having a family night, the whole nine-yards with board games and a movie." She looked at each of her children, daring one of them to groan or refuse.

"Sounds fun Mama," Stef said, knowing that Lena was planning this because they had discussed how they were going to try and get the paperwork moving forward to adopt Callie and Jude as long as they still wanted it. Stef was going to pick up all the paperwork they would need while Callie was at her therapy session and Lena was going to talk to Bill after Jesus' volleyball game. They were hoping to make the official announcement that they were moving forward with the adoption plan at dinner that night.

"Alright, unless you want to be late and face your coach's wrath, we need to get going Jesus Foster," Lena said, seeing him going for another slice of toast.

"Yeah, yeah, okay," he said, stuffing the bread into his mouth and running out the door, followed by Mariana and Lena.

"We have to get going as well Sweets," Stef said to Callie, noticing that she hadn't eaten anything but not making a comment about it. She had a feeling that Callie was dreading her appointment that morning and that might have affected her appetite.

Callie took one last sip of her coffee and put the empty cup in the sink. "Have fun today and be ready to show me everything you get later," she said to Jude, kissing his forehead before leaving with Stef.

* * *

The car ride to Dr. Kimura's office was quiet. Callie was deep in thought as she sat in the passenger seat, her lack of sleep and her worry about this session was going to make it an emotionally taxing one.

When they arrived Callie was quick to get out of the car because she didn't want to have to look over and see Stef's pitying and worried look.

As they walked into the building Stef said, "I have to run some errands while you are with Dr. Kimura but I will have my phone on me and you can call if you need me, okay?" Stef was hoping that Callie wouldn't ask where she was going; she didn't want the possible adoption looming over her head during her session.

"Yeah, that's fine," Callie replied, not really worried about where Stef was going. Normally whoever took her stayed in the waiting room but Callie never understood why because it wasn't like they needed to be there for anything.

They sat side by side and waiting for Callie to be called in for her session. Callie felt her leg bouncing up and down, letting others know how nervous she felt. Eventually Dr. Kimura came out and approached them.

"Callie, Stef, so good to see you. We missed our session last week, but for a very special reason, congratulations Stef, I hope you and Lena all the happiness in the world," she said, coming over and shaking Stef's hand warmly. "Callie, how have you been?" She asked, turning her attention to her patient.

"Alright," Callie answered honestly. Dr. Kimura gestured for her to go into her office and get comfortable, lingering back for a moment to talk to Stef.

"How has she really been?" She asked Stef, knowing all about Callie's attempt to run away.

"Better than that night, but she hasn't opened up to anyone that I know of. We are both worried. We want to go through with the paperwork to adopt her and Jude, but we don't even know if she truly wants that," Stef said, sharing her fears with Callie's therapist.

"We will talk about what we can within her comfort level. I would like you to possibly join us for the last half-hour if Callie agrees. I think it would be good for you to be there when we try to talk about the adoption," Dr. Kimura said.

"If Callie is alright with that, I would love to sit in," Stef said.

"Not just sit in, join in," Dr. Kimura corrected.

"Whatever you think will help," Stef agreed, wondering if Callie would be comfortable with her joining their session in the end. She hoped so, but wouldn't get her hopes up.

With that decided, Stef left to deal with her errands and Dr. Kimura went to join Callie in her office.

"All set Callie?" She asked, entering the room, shutting the door, and taking a seat on one of the couches. After their first session they found that Callie felt more comfortable if they both sat on couches. The equalization of that allowed her to feel less like she was some crazy person in therapy and more like she was just having a conversation.

"Yup," Callie answered from her own spot in the corner of the opposite couch. She was curled into the arm with a pillow clutched to her chest. From her body language alone Dr. Kimura could see that this was going to be a tough session, Callie was closed off from the beginning.

"Why don't we just start with how the past two weeks have been, we haven't seen each other in a while after all. Any news to share?" She asked, hoping that Callie would offer up something that she could branch off of.

"Um…well, Lena and Stef got married…as you know. And, they um, they asked Jude and I if we wanted to be adopted by them," Callie said, figuring she should start with stuff that Dr. Kimura already knew.

"That's exciting isn't it, the prospect of being adopted?" Dr. Kimura asked, knowing that Callie wasn't as excited as many other kids in her situation would be.

"Yeah…I mean, it's something Jude and I have hoped for," Callie paused and bit her lip, looking down at her lap. "It's just…" she couldn't finish.

Dr. Kimura could see her struggle as she tried to figure out how to put her feelings into words. Callie seemed worried to share, which was something Dr. Kimura hadn't seen from her since their first session.

"Callie, I want to take this time to remind you that your foster parents agreed to the adolescent confidentiality contract when you first started to come here. Everything you say to me is in strict confidence, I cannot and will not share anything unless your life is in danger or someone is hurting you. You remember that right?" Dr. Kimura said, needing Callie to remember that so she could feel comfortable about opening up again. It was Californian law that she couldn't share most information with parents or guardians, but she had all her patients and their parents sign something to show that they understood before she started working with them, it gave them a sense of security.

"Yeah…" Callie said, nodding.

"So, what is it about the adoption that you are worried about?" She tried again, hoping to hear from Callie why she seemed hesitant.

"Jude and I love living with the Foster's. The moms are cool and all of their kids have been really welcoming and all…" Callie started.

"I don't want to interrupt Callie but I noticed that you keep mentioning Jude. I know Jude is happy where he is, and that he loves the Foster's. I want to hear about you, and how you feel," she said, hoping to get to the root of the matter and prevent Callie from hiding behind Jude.

"Um…I, uh, I like living there. Mariana has been really…ah, nice and stuff. And Jesus is funny…and he takes care of Jude, sorry, um…he has just been really welcoming. And…um, Brandon, he's been really supportive," Callie said, struggling. "Lena has been…like really awesome. She, uh, she's really good at making someone feel better, you know, like when they are down and stuff. And Stef, she…she ah, makes me feel safe," Callie admitted.

"Wonderful Callie. It seems like you feel comfortable there, and protected," Dr. Kimura said, proud of how Callie was expressing herself. "So what are you reservations?"

"Um…" Callie worried her bottom lip between her teeth, wondering how she was going to get through this conversation.

"Take your time, relax, and think about what you want to say. Close your eyes, gather yourself, and then share," Dr. Kimura coached. She watched as her patient did just that, calming herself down so that she could continue.

"I feel like I can't…like they shouldn't, you know, adopt me," Callie finally said.

"Okay, let's delve deeper into those feelings. Why do you believe they shouldn't adopt you?" Dr. Kimura said, trying to hide her surprise at Callie's reasoning.

"Because I'm selfish," Callie said, reiterating Jude's words from the wedding night.

"Selfish Callie? I know we haven't known each other long, but from all of our talks, and everything you have shared with me, selfish is the last word I would use to describe you," Dr. Kimura said, trying not to invalidate Callie's feelings but also wondering where they were coming from. "What is really going on Callie?"

"I um…the night of the wedding, Jude got mad at me. He told me that I was selfish, that I was ruining everything, and that it would be my fault that we couldn't be adopted by the Foster's…and he was right," Callie said, trying to be honest while struggling with what she wanted to say.

"Why was he right? What happened Callie? Did you do something?" Dr. Kimura asked without any judgment in her voice, seeing the obvious guilt that weighed deeply on her and not wanting to add to it.

"Yes…Jude caught me…well he caught us…" Callie said softly. Dr. Kimura felt something form in the pit of her stomach and she was hoping that she was wrong. Hearing Callie and seeing her struggle with what she was saying, had Dr. Kimura hoping that nothing had happened without Callie's consent. After talking to her, at great lengths, about what happened in the Olmstead's home she felt that Callie had been through enough. But with how uncomfortable she seemed, Dr. Kimura was thinking the worst.

"Callie, Jude caught you with whom…doing what?" Dr. Kimura asked, her voice steady.

"Brandon, he caught me and Brandon kissing," Callie finally said. She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest and she wondered if this kind of stuff was covered in the confidentiality contract. It was out now, she couldn't take it back. But she had promised Jude that she wouldn't be selfish anymore, and by saying what she just did, she might have just ended their time at the Foster home.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Okay, I wrote this therapy scene in a semi-emotional/fragile state. I'm hoping that it conveyed the emotions that I was hoping to get across. Poor Callie is just so unsure about everything, and exhausted, and tired of keeping secrets so everything is about to come out.

Next chapter will be huge because it is when you will all find out what is going to happen with the Braille thing. I had a lot of opinions thrown at me on the subject which I really appreciated. I read through each and everyone and I think I will actually have most people happy with the outcome. There was a winner and I am going to honor their wishes, but I see this being something everyone can live with…I hope.

Till next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: You will find out the results of the vote in this chapter. Lots of sad and confused Callie, a Callie/Stef scene, and a little Jude/Brandon which was very different for me. I enjoyed finally writing it and getting it out to you, I hope you all enjoy it too!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Dr. Ami Kimura was shocked when her patient of almost two months caught her off guard with the statement: "Brandon, he caught me and Brandon kissing."

Of all the things Dr. Kimura expected, that had not been one of them. She had thought that maybe Callie had been drinking, or smoking a cigarette, or maybe even kissing that boy, Wyatt, she had told her about last session. She defiantly did not think that Callie would have been caught kissing her foster brother.

The first issue she wanted to address was the one of consent. With Callie's past, Dr. Kimura was worried that this kiss was something that Callie was uncomfortable with or was something Callie hadn't consented to.

"Callie, was that alright? Did it make you feel uncomfortable?" She asked, trying to approach the topic gently.

"I um…I initiated it. He didn't force it or anything," Callie said quickly, wanting to make that perfectly clear.

"Okay," Dr. Kimura said, relieved that she wasn't forced. "Now Callie, as you are well aware, foster siblings are not allowed to have relationships because it creates an unhealthy environment for you to live in. They worry that it ruins your chance to form normal relationships with your foster family. I know how mature you are, and how you take everything you do into carefully consideration. So I have to ask, why?"

"Um…I don't know," Callie said, her voice raising a few octaves unintentionally. She felt tears gather in her eyes and she stared at the ceiling in order to keep them from falling. She couldn't explain why she was so upset by that simple question.

"Do you have romantic feelings for him? Or, is it possible, that you just feel comfortable and cared for when you are with him?" Dr. Kimura asked, having a theory about why Callie was having trouble identifying the reason behind her kiss with Brandon.

"I don't know…um…" Callie struggled, running her hands through her hair nervously.

"Okay, I want you to try something. Close your eyes," Dr. Kimura waited until Callie finally closed her eyes, "Now I want you to think or Brandon. I want you to picture him in your mind, picture him in whatever way makes you comfortable." She watched as Callie smiled. "Okay, now I want you to describe what you see."

"Um…Well I see Brandon. He is at his piano, playing a song. He's smiling because he loves playing. He always looks so free of life's stresses when he plays," Callie said.

"Very good Callie, now what feelings are you feeling right now? How do you feel while imagining this?" Dr. Kimura asked.

"Happy…" Callie said with a sad tone to her voice. "I feel…safe… like, um, he would protect me. And calm…and…loved." Callie finished.

"Good, you can open your eyes now Callie. You did very well in that exercise," Dr. Kimura coached, knowing that Callie may be feeling uncomfortable with what she said. "Now, what I heard from you was all very normal and natural Callie, for a person who is thinking about a sibling or family member."

Callie felt sick to her stomach, what Dr. Kimura was saying wasn't making her feel any better about kissing Brandon.

"Callie, don't misunderstand what I am trying to say and please don't let it make you feel uncomfortable. Remember, earlier, when you were describing each of the members of the Foster family, you said that they took care of you, they welcomed you, and they make you feel safe. These are the feelings that you also associate with Brandon. Callie, there is nothing wrong with having those feelings, they are perfectly natural," Dr. Kimura tried reassuring her.

"How is that natural? You basically just told me, you told me that I should be okay with kissing my brother!" Callie said, her hysterics coming to the surface.

Dr. Kimura jumped up and sat herself next to Callie on the couch, her clipboard left on the other couch in her haste to get to Callie.

"No, that wasn't what I was trying to say at all Callie. What I was saying was that you have perfectly normal feelings for Brandon; you just weren't sure how to handle them. We've discussed your life in great detail in these past few weeks and you and I both know that you have been dealt a rough hand. You haven't been loved for a long time, probably not since your mother was killed. And now you are in a home where you are surrounded by people who care about you and it is causing all these different emotions inside of you that scare you. So you deal with them in one of the only ways you know how, one of the only ways you think you can show someone you love them. The only thing you are Callie, is confused," Dr. Kimura said, her hand rubbing Callie's back slowly, allowing the young girl to take everything in.

Callie felt completely overwhelmed, and ironically, the person she wanted more than anyone else to help calm her down, was Brandon. She tried to focus on what Dr. Kimura was telling her and she slowly felt her panic subside and began to think clearly. Brandon was her rock, he was the one who kept her grounded and who could make her feel better on her bad days. Just because he was all that, didn't mean he was someone she was in love with, someone that she wanted to marry. She felt so confused, like she didn't know what she was supposed to feel anymore, for anyone.

"Callie, is this why you tried to leave the other night?" Dr. Kimura asked, trying to piece things together and figure out how Callie's mind worked.

"Um…I guess…in part," Callie admitted, finally finding her voice. "But mostly…I, um, I didn't want to ruin things for Jude. He…well, he really likes it with the Foster's. I didn't want my stupid actions to be the reason that he was taken away," Callie explained.

"No one is taking either of you away from the Foster's. I know both Stef and Lena really love both you and Jude, and you are welcomed there for as long as you want to be there," Dr. Kimura said, having spoken to the Foster's about this in length on the phone. "Now that we know why you wanted to leave, I guess the next logical questions would be: what stopped you?" Dr. Kimura questioned.

"I don't know…I guess that…um…I wanted to feel safe and I, uh… I knew that I felt safe there," Callie answered as honestly as she could.

"Which is natural, you have finally found a haven, a place where you don't feel like you have to be on your guard all the time. It makes sense that you were reluctant to leave a place where you felt safe like that," Dr. Kimura validated her feelings. "Does it still feel like a safe place to you Callie?"

"It's not the same…you know, as before. I still feel safe…and well cared for. But…it's just not the same," Callie admitted sadly, thinking about how her bed didn't hold the warmth and comfort that it once did.

"Alright Callie, I want you to know how proud I am of the progress you have made. When we first started you would have never opened up like you did so far today. Now I think we can take a break from this topic for a while, but I would like to revisit some of it later, when Stef comes back. Do you think you would be okay with her joining us for some of this visit?" Dr. Kimura asked, hoping that they could move on to talking about some other, less serious things, before they returned to the adoption question. She also hoped that Callie would have a different perspective after their discussion about her feelings for Brandon.

Callie thought about Dr. Kimura's question. She wasn't sure if she wanted Stef to join them. Ever since she started coming to Dr. Kimura, she thought of the office as a safe place for her to talk about anything and everything. If she allowed Stef to join them, especially while they talked about the adoption, she didn't know if she would feel as comfortable opening up.

"I don't know," Callie said, feeling like she was saying that a lot recently.

"Okay Callie, that's fine. This is your session, you call the shots. Maybe when she comes, you will have a better idea of what you're comfortable with,' Dr. Kimura readily agreed.

* * *

When Stef got back to Dr. Kimura's office later that afternoon, she was shocked at how quiet everything was. Normally, when Callie had her sessions, there was music playing or there was some kind of noise. It was eerily quiet.

She had wondered, the whole time she was at the county offices getting paperwork, whether or not Callie would allow her to join in on her session. Even though she felt as though she and Callie had a pretty good relationship at this point, she knew how private these sessions were for Callie. As much as she wished to be in on it, she only wanted what was best for her.

Both she and Lena had seen such a change in Callie ever since she started seeing Dr. Kimura. She was happier, and seemed to sleep better. It had been so comforting to see such a wonderful girl who had been hurting so much, find some relief and peace in her own mind. Stef wasn't sure if she wanted to mess with that by becoming part of the session.

She was startled out of her pensive thoughts by her phone ringing. "Hello," she answered.

"Hey Babe, were you able to get all the papers?" Lena said on the other side of the line.

"Yeah I got them, back at the office now, waiting for Callie to finish up. How was Jesus' game?" Stef replied.

"They won, Jesus really played great too. I think the coach said that he had 12 kills. We're going out to lunch to celebrate and when we'll be home. I'll call Bill when we get home," Lena said.

"Sounds good Babe. We should be home in about an hour or so, depending on whether the session goes over again," Stef said, hoping that everything was alright in the office where Callie and Dr. Kimura were.

All of a sudden the door to the office opened and Dr. Kimura was in the doorway. "Stef, Callie has agreed to let you join us until the end of the session," she told her.

"Lena, I have to go but we'll talk more when I get home. Love you," Stef said, waiting for Lena to respond before ending the call and standing up. She followed Dr. Kimura into the room and was immediately drawn to Callie. She looked exhausted and emotionally drained curled into the arm of the couch. "Can I sit here?" Stef asked, gesturing to the spot next to Callie.

"Sure, that would be perfect," Dr. Kimura answered. "I want to start this joined session by just saying that anything that Callie has talked to me about, before this point, is still confidential and it will be up to her if she wishes to bring any of that up and share it. What we are going to do, is discuss feelings and fears."

"Feelings and fears regarding what?" Stef asked, a little un-used to this.

"Well, anything you want. But if possible, I'd like to focus on the adoption. For example, how do you feel about the adoption, what feelings or fears do you have?" Dr. Kimura said.

"Um…well I guess I am excited at the opportunity for Callie and Jude to join our family. Ever since they came to live with us, all those months ago, I guess I kind of knew that they were meant to be part of our family," Stef said, smiling over at Callie who looked shocked by the news.

"Really?" Callie whispered, she had thought Stef didn't even like her when they first came to live in the house, especially since Callie almost got Brandon killed on her second night in the home.

"Yeah, I mean there were just moments when I would look around and feel as though the family was finally complete," Stef said, focusing on Callie.

"I'm scared," Callie admitted.

"Okay, what are you scared of Callie?" Dr. Kimura asked, not wanting to become a part of this moment, just needed to facilitate by asking questions to keep things moving.

"That I'll mess up and you won't want me anymore. That I'll do something to ruin or hurt your family. That I will be the reason Jude doesn't have a home again," Callie said, not quiet meeting Stef's eyes.

"Callie, nothing you could do would make us not want you, either of you. Everyone makes mistakes in life, as long as you learn from them, then they served their purpose. No one should have their past held against them," Stef urged, wondering if this was part of the reason that Callie tried to run away. "Lena and I love you, and Jude. Nothing would make us happier than for you to join our family," Stef said, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"But what if…" Callie started, about to go through a rigmarole of things she might do that would make them regret their decision.

"No if's Callie. I'm not going to lie, and say that you will never get in trouble or do things that will upset us, because that would be wrong. We will get into fights, and argue over things like curfews and coffee restrictions, but that's just what family does. You may even throw out an 'I hate you' from time to time. And it will hurt, but it won't be the first or last time we will hear it. It all comes with the territory," Stef said, trying to be reassuring. She could see that Callie was trying to believe her, really wanting to believe her. Stef scooted over and wrapped an arm around Callie, bringing her to her side.

"Callie, do you have any other reservations about being adopted by the Foster's?" Dr. Kimura asked, thinking they had finally gotten through everything. They had spoken at lengths about what had happened between her and Brandon, the fight she had with Jude, and how she felt about the rest of the Foster family. With this conversation under their belt, Dr. Kimura was beginning to think that Callie Jacobs would be very happy becoming Callie Foster.

"I um…I don't think so," Callie said, feeling so drained that she could barely think. She felt herself go boneless in Stef's arms, drawing comfort from her presence. After the lack of sleep for the past few nights, and this very emotional therapy session, Callie was ready to crawl into bed for the next 16 years of her life.

"I think we have reached a milestone, Callie, and I am very proud of you. I think we can call it a day here, remember what we talked about and try to let Stef and Lena take care of you, alright?" Dr. Kimura said, smiling at Callie. She waiting for her patient to nod before getting up to show them out.

Stef helped Callie to her feet and allowed her to stick close by as they walked out of the office, both thanking Dr. Kimura on the way out. As they loaded back into the car Stef was unsure of whether or not she should say something to Callie. It was pretty clear that she had been through a lot already that morning, but she felt a need to make sure that everything was alright before she brought her back to the house where everyone was waiting for them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Brandon and Jude had waited until after everyone else had left before getting ready for their day out.

Jude was a little worried about spending most of the day with Brandon, especially since he caught him kissing Callie. He a was a little worried that Brandon was mad at him for how he acted, and he hadn't had a chance to talk to him while he had been sick, so for all he knew Brandon was still mad.

Brandon was also worried about his day out with Jude. He hadn't spent a lot of time alone with Callie's brother since he came into the house. Jude was much closer to Jesus and Brandon felt a very awkward afternoon coming his way.

"Ready to go Jude?" Brandon called up the stairs, grabbing the keys and waiting at the front door.

"Yup," the quiet boy said, skipping down the stairs and out the front door to Brandon's car. He sat quietly in the front seat and Brandon drove, soft classical music playing in the background. When they got to the mall, Brandon wasn't sure how the whole shopping trip was going to play out if they weren't talking to each other.

"So…what store do you want to shop at?" Brandon asked, hoping to break the ice a little. Jude just shrugged; he never really went shopping before so he didn't know where to start. "Okay, how about we start at a department store, then once we have an idea of your style we can check out some more specialized stores?"

"Okay," Jude agreed, thinking it sounded like a solid plan.

Twenty minutes later Brandon found his arms full of children's clothes and Jude zipping from one rack to another. Unfortunately for Brandon, Jude had figured out, pretty quickly, that he liked shopping and getting to pick out his own clothes.

"I think we have enough Jude, how about you start trying some stuff on," Brandon suggested. As soon as the words left his mouth, Jude stopped and turned towards him. Brandon furrowed his eyes at the look Jude was giving him.

"Why did you kiss my sister?" Jude asked out of the blue, almost making Brandon drop his armload of clothes.

"Uh…" Brandon said, trying to gather his thoughts and figure out what he was going to say to this 12 year old.

"Do you love her, like really love her?" Jude asked, not deterred by Brandon's lack of answer for his first question.

"That's…uh…a loaded question kiddo," Brandon said, still struggling with how he was going to answer Jude's questions. He certainly hoped there wouldn't be any more, considering the fact that he hadn't answered the first two.

"I don't really understand that phrase, but I know it isn't an answer. I saw you kissing Callie; you wouldn't have done that if you didn't love her right?" Jude asked, seeing things a lot clearer than Brandon apparently.

"I really care for you sister," Brandon said, not wanting to get into this with Jude, especially since he hadn't even been able to talk to Callie about it.

"So do I, but I don't kiss her like that!" Jude said, getting frustrated by Brandon's answers.

"I don't know what you want me to say!" Brandon said angrily, losing his patience with Jude and his questions that he didn't know how to answer. One thing was bothering him though, why couldn't he just tell Jude that he loved Callie and that was why he kissed her? He had said it in his head hundreds of times, but now that he had the opportunity to get it all out in the open, he couldn't.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

Okay, so now you know which way I ended up going with the while Braille thing. It was a close vote but the "NOs" beat out the "YESs" buy a little bit. I was personally shocked by the decision but I read through everyone's reasoning and I got a pretty good view for both sides. You all had great ideas and reasons for your vote, and I agree a little bit with both sides, but the vote was the final decision. I hope I didn't upset too many people with this decision. I will be giving each of them time to work through the idea that they aren't actually in love, just sibling soul mates. I hope it all turns out alright.

There has also been some requests for some hurt/sick Callie. Something is in the works there, give it time to brew!

Also, very sorry about the sporadic updates. Life has been a little hectic and although I have been trying to be consistent, it hasn't worked even a little bit lately. I really am trying though!

Hope you enjoyed!


	9. Chapter 9

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: I knew I would take some flak for my decision to go for no Braille and I thank everyone who was respectful with their distaste of my choice. I am sad to hear some of the readers saying that they won't be back for the rest of the story, but there was a line I had to cross and I did it. There was no way to make everyone happy, which sucks when you're a writer, but I hope that those of you who really wanted Braille, stick with the story and give it a chance. I know there were people who said that there was no way for them to go back to being siblings after their kiss, but I just want people to think about this: Callie, the one who initiated it, is a slightly confused and sexually abused girl who had just been through a very traumatic event of having to relive her abuse in front of a court room of strangers. She wasn't really in the right state of mind to be making rash decisions, especially with the idea of adoption looming over her head. Either way, the show is going to have its hands full trying to handle the adoption and the kiss…someone is going to be unhappy.

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

When Jude and Brandon walked through the front door, each with armloads of clothes, the house was filled with laughter echoing from the kitchen. They dropped their bags to go see what was so funny.

They were met with the site of Lena and Stef pointing out different pictures in a large photo album titled: "Brandon's early years."

"Tell me that you are not looking at what I think you're looking at," Brandon groaned, recognizing the book from when they had pulled out when he had first started dating Talya. It was like some kind of terrible ritual that they went through when someone new was getting welcomed into the family.

"Jude, B, you're back, and right in time. Come over here Sweets," Stef said, making room for Jude to squeeze between her and the table. He quickly rushed over to see what everyone was looking at.

"Mom! I thought you swore that you destroyed that book, or buried it in the desert or something," Brandon said, rushing over as well, and praying that some of the more revealing and embarrassing pictures had been removed. That proved to be a useless prayer because not only had they not been removed; they were the star of the page that everyone was currently looking at.

"Oh come on B, these are great memories for your mom and I," Lena said, gesturing to the pictures on the page.

"I think they're sweet," Callie said, speaking to Brandon voluntarily for the first time since the wedding. She was also smiling, a real smile. One that showed Brandon she was truly happy. He couldn't help but smile back, her happiness becoming infectious.

"Sure, little boys parading around in their moms' dresses, wearing heels and make-up is just the sweetest thing I have ever seen," Brandon said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"I think the moms encouraged it, I seem to remember Jesus sporting a similar outfit shortly after we came to live here," Mariana said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah…wasn't that a get up you put me in though," Jesus said, cocking his head to the side. Jude's laughter was unmistakably joyful and he listened in to his soon-to-be siblings conversations. "Think that's funny do you? I think we need to get you all dolled up, as an initiation into our family," Jesus said, reaching over and ruffling his hair.

"He's already got the nails for it," Mariana said, referencing the blue nails that the boy supported.

"I'd look better than both of you in a dress I bet," Jude said, smirking at the male members of the Foster family.

"I think that's a challenge," Stef said, smiling at their antics. She could only imagine how all of her sons would look in dresses, the thought alone brought on another fit of giggled.

"I would judge," Lena said, also thinking it would be hilarious to see the kids have a drag contest.

"Me too," Callie added.

"Me three!" Mariana was quick to jump on board.

Stef just leaned back and watched the chaos ensue; with her wife and two daughters egging on her three sons and trying to get them to put on a drag show for the family. She couldn't help but focus in on Callie, who had been very quiet the whole ride home from Dr. Kimura's office. When they got home she wasn't even willing to talk to anyone, her silence was both deafening and concerning. Then Lena and the twins got home and everyone could see that she was trying to put on a brave and happy face for all of them. That's when Lena busted out the Foster family scrap books, guaranteed to make anyone smile. Within minutes of showing off Brandon's cross dressing pictures the whole group was laughing and genuinely enjoying themselves.

"Alright, alright, maybe we can add a mock RuPaul's drag race to the Foster Family fun night tonight. Right now, however, I would like to see what Jude and Brandon bought," Stef said, ending a potential argument over who would make the prettier girl.

Hearing that, Jude jumped up and ran to the bags he had left at the front door, he was very excited to show Callie some of his new clothes. The rest of the family settled down on the couches and chairs in the living room and Jude proceeded to give them a fashion show.

Callie was nestled next to Mariana and Jesus, both fighting to sit next to her on the couch because they were both worried about how she was acting when she came home from her therapy session. They wanted to try and keep her laughing for as long as they could, neither of them liked to see Callie upset and quiet.

As Jude went through trying on the jeans, sweats, and shirts that he chose during his shopping trip with Brandon, Callie was beginning to notice a bit of a trend coming from his choices. The first few outfits that he showed off were similar to things he had worn before, but as he began to pull clothes from the specialty store's bags, Callie notices the shirts becoming tighter, and having brighter colors. This brought Callie back to thoughts about her previous foster home, where her foster dad tried to beat Jude for wearing his ex-wife's dress. Callie wanted to tell Jude to take the clothes back, to go and chose things that helped him blend in, but she held herself back. She knew she loved Jude regardless of what he wore or what he did with his nails, and she knew the Foster's did as well, so that was going to be enough for now.

"Very nice Jude," Stef said, commenting on his current outfit of black skinny jeans and tight pink v-neck shirt. She looked over to Brandon to try and find out if these really were the clothes that Jude had wanted and had picked out. Brandon just shrugged, letting her know Jude picked whatever he wanted. "It's very…you, Sweets."

"Thanks!" Jude said, excitement coming off him in waves. Callie bit her lip as she saw him load all the clothes back into their bags so he could bring them up to his room. She knew it had to have cost a lot of money for them to basically buy him a whole new wardrobe and it was hard for her to rationalize why the Foster's had done it.

"He looks good in his new clothes doesn't he," Mariana said from next to her, trying to initiate a conversation with Callie after noticing her go quiet. "He should totally let us dress him up one day, like to the nines."

"He'd probably love it," Callie said, focusing on what Mariana was saying and figuring she could bring up the topic of how much it all cost with Stef and Lena another time.

"You and I should go shopping too, I mean, you can't really live in the same three shirts for the rest of your life! Diversity adds spice to life you know!" Mariana joked.

"It's not necessary, I'm fine with what I have," Callie said, not wanting them to spend any more money on them.

"Mari has a point Callie, not that there is anything wrong with your wardrobe as it is right now, but if you wanted to pick up some more things, that would be fine," Lena said, catching the tone in Callie's voice. "When you're ready of course," she added, not wanting to pressure Callie too much.

"Okay," Callie acquiesced, knowing it wasn't worth a fight.

"Now that you've finished your fashion show, how about you get those clothes upstairs and into your dresser. And for all of our children, homework please," Stef said, earning groans from all five kids.

"Can't we do our homework tomorrow?" Jesus said, trying to put it off for as long as possible.

"No, and you know that," Lena said, "Now off with you!"

And with that the kids dispersed to their own rooms to work on their homework.

* * *

Stef and Lena were cuddled on the love seat in the living room while the kids worked on their homework upstairs. They had a lot to talk about.

"So, I spoke to Bill. He was ecstatic about the idea of us adopting Callie and Jude. He was going to talk to the California Department of Social Services for us and see if the fact that we've adopted from the foster system before will help us. We have our fingerprinting and medical examinations on file and they should still be valid, and if not, what we do every year for our foster license may also be sufficient. We obviously have our other report on file as well from when we adopted Jesus and Mariana, but I have copies of a new one for us to fill out just so they have an updated one. There will, of course, be a home inspection and everything, and he said that they will probably want to talk to the kids to see how they feel about this," Lena said, sharing what Bill had told her that afternoon.

"All that doesn't sound too bad," Stef said, leaning into Lena's embrace. She had expected much worse news.

"All and all the process is expected to take about six months to finalize everything. After that, they will be ours," Lena smiled.

"It's going to take a lot of reassuring for Callie to feel comfortable here," Stef said, thinking about the therapy session and how vulnerable she seemed when she poured out all her fears to Stef.

"I know, even the prospect of her getting new clothes was too much for her, and you could feel how worried she was about all the clothes Jude got," Lena said, sharing her observations with her wife.

"I think we need to talk to her, just the three of us, about this whole adoption process and set some rules straight. I'd also like to try and talk to her about some of her previous foster homes. Although I dread bringing up her past, I think a lot of it still haunts her and makes it difficult for her to realize that she is loved by this family. Her file, although filled with information, only really gives us the foster parent's side, not hers," Stef suggested.

"I think that would be a good idea, we might even involve Jude a little bit as well. Although she seems to have shielded him from most of the abuse, he probably has some questions as well," Lena said, she knew both kids must have gone through some horrors in their past that they needed to get through.

"He seems so well adjusted though," Stef said, trying to remember instances where Jude seemed to struggle.

"For the most part he is, Callie has done an amazing job raising him for the past six years. But there are moments, like the first time he asked to have Connor over, where we can see some of the abuse he must have suffered from. And every time he gets hurt, be it a scrape or bruise or anything, he always goes to Callie and they handle it secretly, away from prying eyes. They have both been through things that I can't even imagine," Lena admitted, scared to even try and imagine what happened to them in their previous foster homes.

"Dr. Kimura suggested getting Callie a journal, seeing as how she first began to open up about Liam as part of a writing assignment. She feels that Callie should first be able to work through what has happened to her in the past on her own, and then with whomever he chooses," Stef said, thinking back to what Dr. Kimura had said before they left that afternoon.

"That's a really good idea," Lena agreed. "But maybe, get her one with a lock this time. I never want her to feel as though her journal isn't safe like last time, she'd never write anything if she thought someone was going to violate her privacy and read it."

"Agreed," Stef said. They allowed the tension of the day to slip from their bodies as they cuddled up with each other and relaxed. There would be dinner to make and board games to play later in the night, but for now they were going to enjoy the silence.

* * *

Callie was the first one to finish her homework upstairs. She had finished some of it during her fit of insomnia the night before which hadn't left her much for her to do that afternoon.

"Need any help?" She offered to Mariana, who looked thoroughly frustrated with her assignment.

"Nah, just trying to argue both sides of one story which is not very easy! Especially when I argued one side so passionately that I convinced myself that it was the right side and no other side could ever be more correct," she groaned. Callie couldn't help but laugh as the simplicity of her problem and how dramatic she was being.

"How about this, just imagine that Jesus had said everything you wrote in your first essay, are you gonna let him be right?" Callie asked, trying to help without actually helping because Mariana seemed to want to do it on her own.

"That might just be crazy enough to work," Mariana said, joining in Callie's laughter. She sat quietly for a moment, re-reading what she had written for her first essay, and then smiled before beginning to write her second essay.

Seeing that Mariana needed peace to write, Callie moved over into the boy's room to see if Jude needed any help with his homework. Although he had been doing much better in school than he ever had before, due to all the support he was getting from Lena, Callie knew he still struggled with some topics.

She stopped short at the door when she realized that Jesus was over on Jude's bed, helping him with one of his math problems. She watched as Jesus slowly explained what Jude needed to do and gave him gentle assistance throughout the whole equation. Callie was very impressed, even she got frustrated sometimes and just gave him the answer. She had no idea that Jesus had all that patience because he had been taught the same way; because of his hyperactivity, certain aspects of math were explained through a slower process and apparently that was the exact process that helped everything click for Jude. Not wanting to interrupt their brotherly bonding time she slipped back out of the room as quietly as she had entered.

She turned to go downstairs to see if Lena or Stef needed any help with anything and wound up turning right into Brandon who was leaving his room for a bathroom break.

"Sorry about that," Brandon said, making sure she stayed on her feet and regained her balance.

"I wasn't watching where I was going," she replied immediately. She took her time to look at him though, remembering what Dr. Kimura had said during her session. She didn't find herself feeling ridiculously attracted to him; in fact, she found herself feeling comforted instead of aroused. That revelation brought a small smile to her lips.

"Everything alright?" Brandon asked, seeing her seemingly inexplicable smile. He had been struggling with his thoughts and feelings all afternoon. Ever since he was unable to tell Jude that he loved Callie, he began to reevaluate the past few months, starting with when he told Callie he didn't want her dating Wyatt. He was so sure it was because he wanted her to be dating him instead, but it could have also been because he had heard such bad things about Wyatt from Talya and he just couldn't stand for her to be hurt by anyone. Once he came to that revelation, his confusion had hit an all time high and he felt like he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"I'm fine," Callie said, breaking his thought process.

"Callie, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately," he began, catching her attention. "And I know you have been through…more than I can even begin to imagine. And things have been…weird between us recently. I just want to make sure that you know, no matter what, you can come and talk to me," he said, needing her to know that he wasn't going to cut her off if they didn't have a romantic relationship. If he demanded that of her, he would be no better than Liam.

"Thanks Brandon, that means more to me than you may ever know," Callie said, feeling so much relief at the idea that she wouldn't be lose her rock when she finally told him that her and Jude's adoption was being chosen over the chance to explore what may or may not have been between them. Maybe, just maybe, things could work out for Callie this time.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

So…there is the next chapter. A nice one day turnaround I'd say!

I'm doing my best to smooth out the storyline between Callie and Brandon. As one of my reviewers said, the show kind of shot themselves in the foot with the whole kiss and adoption being brought up in the same episode. I have to transition them from love interest to family love. It's going to be tough and I know I lost a few readers because of it, but it had to be done.

I am also planning on trying to include some more family interactions in the future chapters. A lot of what I write comes from my life experiences so you will see some modified memories of my own as told by the Foster family. I think every writer needs to leave a little something of themselves in their work and that is how I handle adding myself in. Hope everyone enjoys that.

Side note, while researching I came across an article titled: Foster Care on The Fosters: Fact vs. Fiction. It was kind of interesting and I would recommend reading it if you have time. If you just google the title I think it will pop up.

And, as always, I hope you enjoyed!


	10. Chapter 10

**What if…**

Disclaimer: ABC Family is credited with the basic storyline and the wonderful characters, things you haven't seen on the show, that's all me!

Summary: Something stopped Callie that night and she never left the Foster home. Can she assimilate into their family lifestyle or will it all be too much for her.

Notes: Another day another chapter. I'm happy that there still seems to be love for my story and that people are enjoying where I am going with it. We have a nice fluffy chapter coming here so I hope everyone enjoys it!

_**IMPORTANT**_: I'm using my own storyline, from my story _Truth_, of how the Liam saga played out in my other story _Truth_, it's not that I didn't like how the show handled it, I just kind of like how everything was finalized in my version and it's where my mind is when I'm writing so it would be too difficult to turn my mind off.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

"Alright, alright, everyone settle down," Stef said, motioning with her hands for everyone to sit down. They were gathered around their kitchen table with a variety of board games in front of them. "Callie, Jude, you see anything you want to play?" She said, trying to give the game night choice to one of the new family members.

Jude and Callie looked over their choices; there were a lot of games they didn't even recognize and others that they didn't know how to play.

"I don't know how to play any of these," Jude said, speaking softly. He seemed embarrassed by the fact and lowered his head to hide how upset he was. Callie threw her arm around his shoulders to comfort him, making him lift his head and face the family. The fact that neither of them were familiar with the games showed the Foster family what kind of homes they had been growing up in and what they had missed out on.

"That's okay, we can describe them and after you pick one we'll explain the rules and stuff," Jesus said, not wanting Jude to be upset. "This one here, Things, it's like…they give a statement and you get to finish it on these little papers, then we take turns trying to guess who wrote each one. It's also a fun way to get to know each other too, because you have to try and get into each other's heads to win."

"And this one," Mariana cut in, "this one here is called Malarkey. In this game they give us like a question and then everyone has to think of what they think the answer could be. Then one person is given the right answer and we each take turns giving our answer, not knowing who has the right one. And we vote on who we think has the right one."

"Taboo is another one we have here," Brandon said, taking a turn. "In this game there are two teams. Each team has one person go at a time and they have to try and get their other teammates to say a word on the top of a card, without saying any of the other words on the card."

"Hear any you guys like?" Lena asked her eyes sad for the Jacob's children. The more she learned about them, the more she thought that they had been denied a childhood that they deserved.

"Maybe…the first one?" Jude said, unsure of his choice.

"Yes!" Jesus said, excitedly. "That's my favorite!" He came over and messed with Jude's hair, "great choice bro."

Jude smiled up at Callie who smiled back at him. She loved seeing him that happy and excited. As much as she tried to keep that smile on his face in the past, she had seen it less and less as they went from foster home to foster home. She hoped that she would be seeing it more often now that they might be adopted by the Foster family.

"Alright, everyone grab a strip of paper and a pencil," Stef said, getting the game supplies out of the box and helping pass things out.

"I'll read the first card!" Mariana volunteered. Once she saw that everyone was set up. "Alright, so the card says, 'Things…you shouldn't keep in your pocket.' So everyone write down their answer, fold their paper up, and pass it over to me. Then Mama gets a chance to guess first after I read them off," Mariana said, explaining the directions as well as starting the game.

Jude giggled from his spot next to Callie and she wondered what he was writing as she tried to think of something to put on her own slip of paper. Eventually she thought of something and was the last person to hand in her paper.

"Alright listen up everyone. Things you shouldn't keep in your pockets: milk, Mama's keys, anything you aren't willing to lose when wash is done, elephants, more pockets, nacho cheese, and finally headphones," Mariana read, laughing after a few of the choices. "Mama?"

"Alright, I would have to say 'Mama's Keys' would be you Stef, because I hope you learned that lesson pretty well after last time," Lena said, referencing the other day when Lena had been going crazy looking for her keys only to learn that they were in Stef's pocket.

"You got me," Stef laughed, leaning over and kissing Lena, unaffected by the fact that she was just knocked out of that round.

"Okay…and now I'm going to say that 'Milk' was… Jesus?" Lena guessed.

"Nope!" He said excitedly. "So Mama gets a point for guessing what Mom wrote and knocking her out of the round. Now it's Brandon's turn to guess because Mom can't guess when she's knocked out," he explained to Jude who nodded to show his understanding. Callie was sitting next to him, soaking up the rules as well because she had never played the game either.

"So…I'm going to guess that Mama said 'Anything you aren't willing to lose when wash is done,'" he said, pointing to Lena as he guessed.

"I guess that was kind of a giveaway. If only my children stuck to the chore chart maybe that one wouldn't have been so easy," Lena laughed.

"Point for Brandon and he guesses again," Mariana said.

"Can you repeat what's left?" Brandon asked, trying to remember what was what. The two he was sure of had been taken care of, now he had to try and figure out what his siblings had written.

"Sure, we have: Milk, elephants, more pockets, nacho cheese, and headphones," she read off.

"Okay…so 'Milk' isn't Jesus…is 'Elephants' yours Jesus?" Brandon guessed.

"I guess everyone is trying to get me tonight. But the answer is no dear brother," Jesus laughed, happy to still be in the game. "Your turn little guy," he said, referencing Jude was had a pensive look on his face.

"I think 'headphones' is…Brandon?" he said, unsure of himself but thinking that headphones fit for Brandon because he was always complaining that his headphones were tangled from being in his pocket.

"You got me," Brandon said, smiling to show that he was alright with being knocked out.

"Good job baby," Callie said, kissing his forehead.

"You're definitely 'more pockets,'" he said to his sister, smirking as she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Remember that pair of jeans that you threw out because there were pockets inside your pockets?" he asked.

"Sure do," she replied, laughing a little at the memory.

"Jude's knocked two out, all that's left is Jesus and himself, and mine of course but you can't guess mine because I'm the reader. So Jude, can you guess Jesus'?" Mariana asked, looking over the three answers that were left having a pretty good idea who was who.

"Well…the only thing Jesus could be is 'Nacho Cheese'. Someone already guessed 'Milk' for him and I know which one is mine," Jude said with a smile, proud that he figured it all out.

"You got me, so that means Mariana was 'Milk' and Jude, you were 'Elephants?" Jesus asked.

"Yup, they just shouldn't be there," he said matter-of-factly, causing the rest of the family to laugh.

"Very true Sweets," Stef said.

* * *

After the game ended, with Jude beating everyone by double digits, they retired to the den to pick a movie.

"Callie, since Jude picked the game, maybe you could pick the movie while mama and I make popcorn for the group," Stef said, pointing over to their library of DVDs.

"Um…I don't know," Callie said, biting her bottom lip. She didn't want to pick something that no one liked. They had such a great night so far and she just wanted to make sure that the night ended as perfectly as it started; she wanted this memory of the Foster family to be pristine.

"Anything you want," Brandon coached quietly. He could see that Callie didn't want to pick a movie but she had to start putting herself out there with the family without worrying that they wouldn't like her choices or that her choices would affect their feelings about her.

"Okay…how about…Narnia?" She said questioningly, holding up the first of the Narnia movies.

"Awesome," Mariana said from her spot on the couch.

"She loves the guy who plays Peter in the movie," Jesus said, making Mariana throw a pillow at him while yelling for him to shut up. Their antics put Callie at ease and she smiled to herself as she loaded it into the DVD player.

After the title menu was playing on the screen she stood up and looked for a place to sit during the movie. Jesus and Mariana had both claimed the spots by the arms of the sofa, Jude was curled up on the cozy chair right next to the couches (surprising Callie because normally he liked to sit with her when they watched movies together), and Brandon was next to Jesus. That left three possible spots but Callie knew, from pervious movie nights, that Stef and Lena normally got the other two comfortable chairs by the kitchen because they were always up getting more popcorn or drinks for the kids. So really, the only spot left was on the couch next to Mariana and Brandon. Remembering what he had said to her earlier about being whatever she needed him to be, she moved over to the open spot on the couch and curled herself up there.

"Callie, did Mariana sway your choice," Stef said as soon as she saw the title screen for Narnia on the TV.

"No I did not! Callie picked that one all on her own!" Mariana protested from her spot, sticking her tongue out at Jesus when he snickered the Stef's comment.

"Please tell me we don't have another one in love with Peter Pevensie," Lena laughed, causing the room to burst out in laughter at Mariana's put out look.

Callie laughed along with the family, not sharing the real reason she loved the movie so much. She couldn't help but love the family aspect of the movie and how the siblings fought for each other and would die to protect each other.

"Have we had enough picking on Mariana? Because if so, I'd like to watch the movie," Mariana said, groaning but still smiling.

"Alright kids, pass the popcorn down. Make sure everyone gets some, Jude did you get a bowl?" Stef said, passing bowls of popcorn down the line, trying to make sure each kid had their own bowl because when they didn't, there tended to be sharing issues.

"Alright, let's start the movie. And everyone remember Mom's no talking rule!" Lena said, knowing how much Stef hated when people talked at the movies, it was the number one reason they didn't go out to watch movies anymore.

* * *

Halfway through the movie Callie was intently watching the movie. She was so into the movie that she unconsciously reached down to her bowl only to find it empty. Brandon noticed her confused reaction to her lack of popcorn and quietly poured some of his into her bowl. He would have offered to share his bowl, but he was still working on the whole giving Callie space thing so he decided to just give her some of his.

"Thanks," she whispered, picking up a kernel and popping it into her mouth.

"Anytime, what are brothers for?" he whispered back a little too loud, causing his mom to shush him loudly.

Callie couldn't fight the smile on her face, looking around the room at everyone sharing seats and popcorn, she truly felt like a family for the first time in a very long time.

* * *

Callie woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She didn't remember falling asleep during the movie and was actually very surprised that she did considering the fact that it was one of her favorites. She guessed that the lack of sleep recently had worn her out and her body shut itself down to allow itself some recovery time.

"Bed time sleepyhead," Mariana said, shaking her shoulder again because she wasn't sure it Callie was truly awake just yet.

Callie looked up at her and slowly things started to come back to her. Her body stiffened at the realization, if she was looking up at Mariana, who was shaking her awake, who was she leaning on.

Whipping her body around she almost smacked her head into Brandon's as she attempted to move away. She hadn't meant to fall asleep on him and she felt terrible for doing it. She knew that he was trying so hard to follow her lead on everything and she felt like she had led him on by falling asleep on his shoulder.

"It's alright Callie," he said, raising his hands in surrender. He was worried that he had made her uncomfortable by letting her sleep through the movie like he did but he didn't have the heart to wake her up when she looked so tired. "No harm, no foul."

She just nodded, looking sorry.

"Come on, Jesus already took Jude up to bed and the moms are cleaning up in the kitchen," Mariana said, trying to pull her to her feet.

"I'm up," Callie said, lifting herself up and away from Brandon. "Okay, let's go," she said to Mariana.

"Night Brandon, night moms," Mariana called out.

"Night," Callie called out as well. Both girls ascended the stairs, hearing replies from Brandon and the moms as they went.

* * *

As Callie lay in bed that night, she found herself unable to sleep again. Even though she had gotten about twenty minutes on the couch earlier and she was exhausted when she woke up, her nap seemed to have jumpstarted her insomnia again.

The only different this night was, Mariana seemed unable to sleep either.

"You alright?" Callie finally asked her, seeing her change sides in bed for the thousandth time.

"I think so…only…" Mariana said, trailing off as she bit back what she was going to say. She had something on her mind all day but she had been able to push it to the back of her mind earlier because she was so focused on Callie and how she was doing. Now that she had time to relax her mind, everything was coming back to her.

"Only what?" Callie said, sitting up and facing her. She could tell by Mariana's tone of voice that something was off with the usually carefree girl.

"Only…I think I saw my mo…I mean Anna today," Mariana finally said.

"What? Where? Did you tell someone? Did you tell Lena or Stef?" Callie said, jumping out of bed and rushing over to Mariana's where she sat on the end.

"I don't know. Maybe it wasn't even her. When we were at Jesus' game today, at the school, I thought that I saw her. Like…watching but… but far away. I'm not even sure it was her, it might not have been. So I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want everyone freaking out over nothing," Mariana said in a sort of rush.

"Mariana, we need to tell someone. If it was her, she wasn't allowed to be there. Stef and Lena told us that point blank," Callie said, focusing on needing to help Mariana and forgetting about her inability to sleep.

"But what if it wasn't her? Then I'd be worrying everyone for nothing," Mariana said, slightly distraught at the idea of causing her family more worry and pain that she already had in the past month.

"I think your parents would rather be worried, than not know anything about it and find out later. What if something happens and you could have prevented it by telling them that you saw her today," Callie said, trying to get Mariana to see reason.

"You're right, I mean…look where lying got me last time," Mariana said, a tear falling from her eye as she remembered the guilt she felt from Stef getting shot.

"Right, so you're going to tell them," Callie said, making sure they were both on the right page.

"Yeah…but tomorrow. I don't want to wake them up tonight considering it may be nothing," Mariana said, needing a night to think about what she was going to say.

"Okay, but promise me that you are going to do it. If you want, I'll come with you when you tell them," Callie said, putting a hand over Mariana's to show her support.

"Thanks, I might need that courage tomorrow," Mariana said, smiling up at Callie. It felt so nice to have someone to talk to and share things with. It was something she had been missing ever since she and Lexi had begun fighting after her Quinceañera.

"I'm not going to let you forget either," Callie said, trying to gauge if Mariana was feeling better after their little talk.

"I know, which, believe it or not, helps. Thanks Callie, night," Mariana said, lying back down and pulling her covers up. Callie moved off her bed and returned to her own bed, wondering if she could follow Mariana's lead and fall asleep.

Staring at the ceiling she hoped so, otherwise it was going to be a long night.

**oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo**

So I hope everyone liked the Foster family fun night! The games that I mentioned were all games that I love to play with my sisters and cousins. "Things" is an awesome game I would totally suggest it to anyone who loves to play games with large groups of friends. It's also a really great way to get to know other people because people's answers are very revealing. For example, one of the cards said "Things that would make the workplace more exciting" and my 9 year old cousin replied "guns and women." It was shocking and hilarious.

I am trying to work in the twin's storyline here, because I feel like the story is so focused on Callie and her road to recovery and stuff that it needs another storyline to help it along. So I am going to try and be more diligent at adding their stuff in.

Night not have an update tomorrow night, got some family stuff going on so I don't foresee a lot of writing time. But soon, I promise!

So…hope everyone enjoyed!


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